7 Days: Tenten's Toughest Mission!
by Majik513
Summary: Tenten's father has announced that if she can't find a boyfriend in a week, he will find a HUSBAND for her! In her desperation, she asks Neji to pose as her boyfriend. Wait a sec... NEJI? Continued with no longer here folks' permission.
1. Prologue

**I'm so excited to be continuing this story! It's really amazing. ^_^ Credit to _no longer here folks_ for the original.**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, what would you do if this weren't here?**

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Prologue

"You want to WHAT?!"

Tenten's outraged rang throughout the neighborhood, breaking the serene silence of the early morning. Many cries of startled children could be heard from the neighboring houses, having been woken by Tenten's outburst. Disgruntled parents were forced to wake up to comfort their children on the early Sunday morning, evident to the sounds of furniture being clumsily knocked over and not-so-mild curses of annoyance.

But Tenten had bigger problems then worrying about the disturbance she'd caused.

Her rather loud exclamation was met by the stern eyes of her father, and his reply. "Tenten, you heard clearly what I intend to do."

Tenten slowly closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the morning never to have existed. "This is just a dream," she muttered frantically, to herself, "This is just a dream, this is just a dream…"

The usually composed and rational Tenten was currently standing in the dining room, having woken up early to grab a quick breakfast before training with Neji. When she had woken up this morning, she had never expected to see her parents arguing silently in the dining room. About her. About _it._

She opened her eyes a tiny bit and looked at her father. Sitting there at the dining table, making no move to comfort his wife, who was sobbing desolately into the table. It was all too much for her. Tenten had never shouted like that before. Then again, Tenten thought she had a good reason to.

Tenten quickly snapped out of her daze and looked defiantly back at her father. "No! I won't do it! I won't be apart of this… Of this scheme!"

Her father sighed as her mother sobbed harder into the table. "Tenten," he said tiredly, obviously wanting to end it all quickly, "It's not a scheme. It's an arranged marriage."

"IT'S NO DIFFERENT TO A SCHEME!" Tenten screeched, uncaring to how rude she was being. Her father wanted her in an arranged marriage. So she hadn't misheard the first time. Her blood churned at the words. 'Arranged Marriage' and 'Tenten' did not belong in the same sentence, damn it!

Surprisingly, her anger dissolved and a desperate expression appeared on her face. "Father," she cried mournfully, "Why do you want me in an arranged marriage? Don't… Don't you want me?" Her last comment had been directed more towards her mother. She had never been close to her father, but to her mother she had. Perhaps that was why she felt so betrayed that her mother actually _supported_, kind of, her father's decision.

But she could understand her father's feelings. He had always wanted a son and was sorely disappointed when the doctors had announced that the only child his wife could ever carry was a girl. They weren't a very rich or historical family, but their line went back a very long way, making her father proud of it. So of course he had wanted a son to carry on the family name.

But Tenten was a girl. So of course her father had to hold some kind of remorse or regret towards her. She understood.

And that was why Tenten had always been different from other girls. She had grown up, trying to please her father and make him _glad _that he had her. And she did that by giving her the son he never had; her. Rather then play with dolls, she had played with weapons. Rather then wear pretty, delicate dresses, she had always chosen to wear the most practical of clothes. And now, at 16, she was a kunoichi, one of the best ones out there.

'And he still doesn't care,' She thought bitterly to herself.

Her mother, finally taking some part in this, managed to sob out, "T-Tenten… We only w-want you to be happy…" Tenten considered herself to be a very well mannered person and her dormant temper was usually a heavy sleeper. But she felt that this occasion was an exception.

"You _want _me to be _happy_?!" She screeched, with a look of indignation spread across her pretty face. That reduced her mother to a sobbing heap on the ground. Tenten felt a pang of guilt, but then remembered what her mother was trying to do to her.

Once again, her father sighed, only this time more patronizingly, as if he were explaining something very simple to a thick headed child. Tenten being the child. Of course this only made her angrier.

"Tenten," he said, ignoring her radiating anger, 'We have all realized that you are different from other girls. More… Manly.'

He raised a hand to silence Tenten before she could release her angered objection of his choice of words… obviously an understatement. The look of hurt in her eyes just bounced off his skin. But he couldn't help but feel the least bit remorseful when she whispered quietly, "But I did it for you…"

Nevertheless, he continued. This was for Tenten's own good, or so he thought. "I'm sure that in future, men your age won't appreciate tomboy wives." Suddenly, Tenten's hurt and dejected mood changed to one of insulted outrage. Had her _own _father just called her a _tomboy_?!

Her father just ignored the disdainful glares he was receiving and carried on. "If we arrange a marriage for you, in future, you can have a decent and respectable husband. Not some second choice slob who couldn't get a wife the first time round."

Tenten blinked, shocked and angered that her father's absurd, evil and hateful words… actually had sense to it. "And besides," he continued, "I have already found a suitor…"

That was it. She threw her last ounces of pride out the window and got on her knees and begged. "Father, please! I'll do anything! I'll wear dresses, make-up, anything! I'll even get a boyfriend if you want! Just please don't make me go through this!"

Her father shook his head slowly, tired of the conversation. "Tenten…"he began tiredly, when he was interrupted.

"Wait!" Tenten turned her attention towards her mother who had her head held up from the table, with an expression of realization on her tear streaked face.

"What is it?" Tenten's father asked gently, not wanting to upset is distraught wife.

"If…"Tenten's mother began slowly, almost carefully, "If Tenten can manage to find a respectable suitor, or boyfriend you can say… it would prove that she will be fully capable of finding a decent husband in future. So if she could find a boyfriend instead…"

"Yes, father!" Tenten cried, silently thanking her mother for her stroke on genius. "Yes, I'll find a boyfriend instead! Please, father, please!" Her father looked quite opposed to the idea, though it was more practical then his.

"Tenten…"he started, when he was halted by a warm hand on his arm. His wife stood there, her chocolate brown eyes filled with a pleading expression. He looked from his wife's face to that of his daughters. The exact same eyes stared back at him.

"Alright," he said, giving in quite reluctantly. Tenten breathed out in relief and an ecstatic grin graced her face, while her mother just smiled, happily. "Thank you Father!" she began, when suddenly his face turned from reluctant to stern again.

"Not so fast," he said firmly.

Tenten's smile dropped like a rock. Of course. A catch. All good deals had to have a catch. "I haven't finished yet," her father continued, ignoring the glares he was receiving not only from Tenten, but also from his wife. "Tenten must find a suitor… In a week."

Tenten felt her jaw drop. A week?! _A week?! "_A WEEK?!" she screeched. How could she ever hope to find a boyfriend in a week?!

Her mother looked frantically towards her father. "But…"

"Stop." Tenten's father interrupted, firmly and stubbornly. "That's my proposition. Take it or leave it." Tenten's face turned red in anger, but she forced her temper down, having something that aroused her curiosity.

"Why a week?" she asked, suspicious.

Her father closed his eyes calmly before saying, "Well, I already appointed a formal meeting with a possible suitor for you. I wouldn't want to be rude and cancel if you couldn't find a boyfriend, now would I?"

She felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head. A possible suitor. A week. Her father knew it was not possible. Heck, even _she _knew it wasn't possible. But she knew by her father's dismissive tone that there was no arguing about it. At least she could get a few extra days to prepare before the week began.

"Fine," she announced, surprising both her parents that she actually agreed to it without arguing. "When does the week start?"

Tenten's father raised an eyebrow. "Today, of course."

Tenten felt her chest constrict. Today?! _Today?! _"TODAY?!" she screeched. The reply was a curt nod and, strangely enough, instructions.

"When, or should I say if, you find a boyfriend, you will bring him home for lunch on the Sunday after the week is up. If not, you shall accompany me to meet your… suitor."

Anger flashed in Tenten's eyes. Suitor? They were probably already practically engaged! "Fine!" she snapped, slightly childish, "I'll find a boyfriend, father, just you wait!"

With that she stomped out of the room, out of the house and confidently into the street. It was then that the sudden impact of her situation finally hit her.

"Oh, damn," she said, "How am I gonna find a boyfriend in 7 days?"


	2. Seek and Convince

Day 1: Seek and Convince

"A boyfriend… A boyfriend… A boy. Who are the guys I know?"

Tenten was walking along a dirt track towards her usual training area an hour after her 'conversation' with her parents. She had pushed her problems aside and eaten a nice breakfast she had bought, having stormed out of the house before she could grab anything. But now, that her meal was over, she let the full weight of her problem settle uncomfortably in her stomach.

Tenten walked slowly along the road, fiddling nervously with the plastic handles of the bag containing extra food she had bought as a peace offering for one Hyuuga Neji. She was late for the training session and she knew he wouldn't be happy. Apparently, she was the only person who could train productively with him, or so he drove himself to believe.

Tenten had enough problems and she couldn't afford to have a disgruntled Hyuuga as one of them! But maybe he would understand… After all, she did have her problem… No. Hyuuga Neji does not understand.

"What am I thinking about?!" Tenten wondered aloud to herself, "I have more important matters then to worry about Neji's feelings! Besides, I bought him food, so he should be grateful. Heck, I'll just tell him I was late because fate decreed it so!" Tenten grinned at her ingenious idea, then realized what she had been doing. 'Great,' she thought grumpily, 'Now I'm talking to myself.'

Pushing Neji aside, she slung the plastic bag over her shoulder and brought her attention to more important matters. 'Alright,' she thought with a determined tone, 'A boyfriend. Who are the guys I know?'

Her thoughts immediately drifted to Rock Lee, her teammate as a genin and one of her closest male friends. 'Lee,' she thought, 'Lee already knows me well… I can't ask him to be my boyfriend…Wait! I can ask him to _pose _as my boyfriend instead of really_being _my boyfriend! Lee would do it, plus he's a Taijutsu master! Father would be impressed!'

But Tenten's joy was temporary. Just as Tenten's face brightened up with a grin, an unpleasant memory hit her right in the face.

It involved a misplaced cup of sake, Lee and the time when Gai-Sensei had brought her team to a bar to celebrate Lee's learning of the Lotus move. What Tenten remembered most vividly was the shock she and her parents, who had been present, had felt when the owners of the bar had presented to her team the bill for the replacements of damage caused by a drunken Lee. It had drained a years worth of her allowance alone!

No, Lee wouldn't do. Her father could never forget about that incident, and he would always remember Lee's face. Of course, who could forget a bob-headed, thick eye-browed boy in spandex? Her father would never wait to meet the person Lee really was. No, Lee just wouldn't do.

Who would then? Her mind then drifted to some of the younger ninjas. Naruto, the annoying blonde kid, but the first ever to beat Neji a few years back. Too loud… Uchiha Sasuke? The last Uchiha? No, he was disgraced after the incident with that Orochimaru villain…Aburame Shino? No, her mother was afraid of bugs…

Tenten thought of a few more respectable ninjas, before she realized they were all younger then her and her father would never accept that. She then thought of any other ninjas that she knew enough to ask them to pose as her boyfriend, but realized they had faults her father would surely disagree with. She even resorted to thinking of older ninjas…such as Gai-Sensei… but she escaped that thought before she would let herself have nightmares…

Before she knew it she had run out of ideas of ninjas _and _walking space as she had reached her destination. Her training area. She took a deep breathe and thought silently to herself, 'Time to face the wrath of Neji.'

As she slowly stepped into the small clearing surrounded by trees she was greeted with… nothing. There was no-one there. She sighed, openly relieved, as she brought the bag containing Neji's food back to her front. Neji wasn't here.

"You're late." Quick as the wind, Tenten dropped the bag and whipped out a kunai, spinning around swiftly, ready to meet the voice's owner. Speak of the devil, there was Neji, sitting on a large tree stump with a bird eating seeds from the palm of his hand. Tenten huffed, openly annoyed as she put her weapon away. "Neji!" she exclaimed loudly, scaring the bird away, "You scared me!"

As Neji watched the bird fly away, annoyed that his friend had fled, he turned calmly towards Tenten with what she and Lee had dubbed the 'Mr. PMSed Hyuuga' expression on his face. He wasn't happy. Not very happy at all.

'This is my time to strike!' she thought, determined to herself, 'Or else he'll take his anger out on me during training!'

"Neji!" she exclaimed happily, with a false, slightly overenthusiastic smile on her face. "Neji! I thought you might be hungry, so I bought you some food!" Tenten turned around quickly to pick up the food she had dropped earlier. She quickly proceeded over to Neji's tree stump, and, putting on her best smile, held the food over to Neji at an arm's length, precautious if he would attack. Peeved Neji was Dangerous Neji.

When Neji made no move to relieve Tenten of the bag, her smile slowly faded off her face. They stood there in silence, Neji staring openly at Tenten. His white eyes bored into Tenten's brown ones, as she nervously shifted under his gaze, unsuccessfully trying to break the eye contact. 'What is he going to do to me…' Tenten thought nervously.

Time ticked by as Neji stared and Tenten shifted. Even the birds were quiet.

One minute… 'Why does he keep looking at me?' Two minutes… 'Maybe he doesn't mind that I'm an hour late…' 3 minutes… 'Might as well enjoy my last moments…' 4 minutes… 'Is he brain dead?! Oh damn, no. He's taunting me.'

Suddenly, Neji stretched his arm out towards Tenten, reaching out to grab her wrist. Tenten felt fear strike in her chest and her legs turn to liquid…

But she was a kunoichi, and she wasn't going to die without a fight. She dropped the bag, letting a nervous squeak pop out, before jumping back a fair way, while pelting random weapons as Neji. "Die Neji!"

Neji saw the weapons coming. He had trained with her for over 4 years and he knew her reflex attacks quite well. Skillfully, he scarcely dodged all of the weapons specialist's attacks by a hair and agilely caught the bag of food before it hit the ground.

"Die Neji?" he asked unemotionally, dodging the last of the weapons and taking his seat on his stump.

When Tenten realized his intention, she ceased fire and screeched out, "You jerk!" before realizing how impolite she was being with Neji and clamped her hand over her mouth. Just because she had had a tantrum this morning didn't mean she could let it affect her normal everyday behavior.

But when Neji just smirked at her, she was beginning to feel her remorse for her rudeness fade away. Still wanting to keep her pride, she slowly stomped over to his stump, and sat down next to him, her head held high.

The two sat there in silence as Neji slowly unwrapped the meal, and ate it slowly and politely. During this time, Tenten continued her thoughts on a suitable boyfriend. Just as she was re-evaluating if Gai-Sensei was actually _that _bad to have as a boyfriend, she was interrupted by none other then the only person who could have possibly made her day worse.

"Why were you late?" asked the stoic Neji having finished his meal. Before Tenten answered, she tried to determine what mood he was in. Being a Hyuuga _and _Neji at the same time, his face was like a slate; expressionless. But Tenten took that since there were no homicidal vibes being emitted from the Hyuuga Prodigy, who was packing up the rubbish unemotionally, she answered happily, not in fear that he would bite her head off.

"I had a few… problems. This morning." Tenten replied, her face turning dark when she said 'problems'. As Neji finished packing his rubbish, he decided that she needed some payback for making him wait an extra hour. He usually wasn't nosy, but then again Tenten wasn't usually late.

"Oh?" Neji replied as emotionally as he could, which was, mind you, exempt from any trace of emotion. "What problem?" Tenten felt a slight twitch in her left eye. This was the last thing she wanted to do. To add to her bad day, she would now be sharing her problems with none other then one of the top three unemotional people in Konoha. But better then having Neji take it out on her in training. She would not have the energy left to even _think _about finding a boyfriend after something like that.

"Neji," Tenten said seriously. "My father wants to set me up in an arranged marriage." Now, when Tenten said this to Neji, she didn't expect sympathy or pity, but she didn't expect Neji to smirk at her. And that's exactly what he did.

"So?" he asked, somehow maintaining his smirk and a totally unemotional face. "Neji!" Tenten exclaimed, shocked at the aloofness he was showing towards her situation. "It's an arranged marriage! To a man!"

Tenten was only irked even more when Neji's smirk stayed pasted on his face. "What did you expect?" he asked, a shadow of amusement apparent in his voice, "A woman?"

She couldn't believe him. He was heartless. How could he? No, that question was easy. Neji. Damn, Neji was an unfeeling bastard. Neji was an insensitive, narcissistic, egotistical, unfeeling excuse for a male! Neji was a… a male?

"Neji," Tenten said, realization dawning on her face, "You're a guy!" Neji just stared at her. "Was that supposed to be funny?" he asked, no longer smirking. Tenten just ignored him and a large, happy grin appeared on her face. "Neji!" she cried, and before Neji could stop her, she pounced on him and pulled him into a big bear hug. "You're a guy! A guy, a guy, a guy!" she laughed, squeezing him harder every time she said 'guy'.

Through all this, Neji just sat there, letting the barest hint of irritation grace his face. He frowned uncomfortably, his eyes face turning dark as he stiffened at her squeezes, a dark aura surrounding him.

It was another few seconds before Tenten realized what she was doing. She was hugging _Neji._ THE Hyuuga _Neji. _This morning's news must have seriously scrambled her brain. Almost as quickly as she pounced onto him, she jumped back, standing embarrassedly on the grass.

"Sorry…"she uttered, a pink tinge appearing on her cheeks, "It's just that…" Tenten sighed, taking back her former seat next to Neji on his stump. "Neji, you know this morning my father told me he wanted to set me up in an arranged marriage. But my mother and I managed to convince him into having a deal." Neji just looked back at Tenten, unemotionally.

When Neji said nothing in return, Tenten looked straight into Neji's eyes and continued. "The deal was… If I could find a boyfriend in this week… I wouldn't have to get married."

Neji closed his eyes, realizing where this conversation was going. "Lee." he said, his voice still emotionless as always. Tenten shook her head slowly. "My parents were there at his Lotus celebration. Remember?" A few minutes of silence passed as Tenten watched his face apprehensively, while his face stayed straight.

"Neji," Tenten asked quietly, "Will you please _pose _as my boyfriend?"

"Tenten. Let's train." Neji said, slowly getting up.

"But…"

"Tenten."

That was it. Her last chance to stay free. She knew Neji was unconcerned with other's affairs but she had been his bloody _teammate._Tenten felt tears prickling the back of her eyes. But she wouldn't cry. That would be weak. And she couldn't give up either. She had to try a new tactic.

"Neji." She forced her head up to look at his back. "Y-you do realize," she choked out, forcing the tears back, "If I am forced to go through with this, you might lose me as a training partner. You have said so yourself that I am the only person who you can train productively with."

With that, Neji slowly turned around, looking into Tenten's brown eyes. Tenten looked back, silently pleading with Neji's blank ones. "I can train with Lee." With that, he turned around slowly.

Tenten felt the tears fighting to be released, and her hope draining away. But she held it back. She would rather die then give up. If not Neji, then someone else, even if it was Gai-sensei.

"Fine." She whispered. Coincidently, Lee ran into the training area, and greeted Neji and Tenten with a surprised expression on his face. But Tenten couldn't hear it. She just walked out of the clearing, trying to fight the tears back.

Tenten was surprised to see herself back at the training area. She had wondered aimlessly around for half an hour until she was sure that she wouldn't cry. In her daze, she hadn't realized that she had been heading towards the clearing.

'Oh well,' she thought to herself, 'Might as well see how Neji's going with his new training partner.'

As Tenten walked into the yard, she was very surprised to see what sight greeted her in the clearing.

In the middle of the yard, there was only one green patch of grass left, surrounded by large craters. On the green island was Lee and Gai-Sensei, hugging each other, tears streaming down their faces, muttering incoherent things like, "Lee!" and "Gai-Sensei!"

Tenten's eyes flitted around the area, looking, and finding, a rather disgruntled Neji sitting on his tree stump, with the imprint of Gai-Sensei's sandal on his face. Every few seconds, he would throw threatening scowls at the blabbering pair. Heck, if Tenten didn't know better, she'd say Neji was _sulking._

Feeling accomplished, she strode confidently towards Neji and sat beside him, a victorious grin threatening to break out on her face.

"Well?" she asked him smugly, making sure to contain her giggles.

"Fine." He replied, emitting a homicidal aura.


	3. Hold My Hand

Day 2: Hold My Hand

The sun was too bloody cheerful. Where were the clouds when you needed them?

She couldn't believe it. Yesterday, after Neji had finally agreed to pose as her boyfriend, he used her to release his anger during a 12-hour training session. Lee and Gai-Sensei didn't help either, what with Gai-sensei teaching Lee the Dynamic Entry and Tenten being the target practice.

Her body was broken. She cursed the brain cells that told Neji he could use 'Gentle' Fist to vent out frustration as well as chakra.

To add to it, her disturbingly cheerful mother had woken her up early, saying that she shouldn't have been sleeping when she had boy hunting to do. Of course, Tenten had been too tired to say she already had a boyfriend and that now she just had to keep him for 7 days, when her mother booted her out of the house.

And to top it all off, she hadn't had anything to eat since her meal yesterday morning. "This is all Neji's fault…" she muttered, her eyes dark.

In her achy and food-deprived body, she strolled around the streets of Konoha, towards the food market to buy some breakfast. Or lunch, since it was already noon. Tenten had spent most of her morning taking her anger out on a rock dubbed Neji (which had now been reduced to fine powder) and she was hungry. No, that was an understatement. Tenten was _starving._

Tenten pulled out a suspiciously light purse to take out her money and was shocked to see her purse was… empty. Nothing.

If it had been yesterday, she probably would have sworn out loud in the street. 'What did I spend my money on?!' Tenten thought to herself furiously, turning her purse inside out just incase something had fallen through a hole. No. Still nothing.

Then it hit her. "I spent my money on Neji's extra food!" she cried, aloud, ignoring the stares she was receiving from people passing by. "Damn that Neji! If he weren't helping me, I'd probably go kick his sorry ass, Hyuuga or no! This is all Neji's fault!"

She slowly counted to ten and released her rage. 'Calm down, Tenten,' she thought to herself, 'Sulking won't solve anything. And this is _not _Neji's fault.'

Suddenly, she felt and heard her stomach grumble. "This is _so_ Neji's fault," She muttered, irate.

It was a relatively nice day, but as Tenten walked hopelessly around, she felt as if the sun was piercing her back with its burning heat. A nice gentle breeze blew throughout the street, but to Tenten it was a gust of wind, holding her away from the wafting smell of food. Every step consumed what limited energy she had left, rendering her weaker with every action.

"Must…food… now…" she muttered, rambling, "Then… kill… Neji…"

'Alright,' she thought to herself with the last piece of sanity she possessed, 'I'm delirious with hunger.'

In her daze, she wasn't watching where she was going and bumped into a tall figure. "Sorry, Sir, I was…" Tenten started, but she trailed off when she saw who it was.

"Tenten," Neji greeted, face blank as always. Tenten looked up at his face, but all she could see were 2 white bowls, overloaded with noodles. "Neji…' she whispered, energy drained, "Food…" She reached out a hand and weakly pawed his chest, her way of begging in her state. Heck, she had gone over 24 hours without food _and_through a 12 hour training session with a peeved Neji. No one but her had ever gone through such trauma! She _deserved _food!

Fired up from her passionate thoughts, she pushed her last bits of energy into pawing Neji's chest, one… last… time.

"Food…"

Neji, face slate-like, just looked down at Tenten's pathetic form and rolled his non-existent pupils. "Fine. Come on."

It was _delicious. _Food! So long had she been deprived from her food!

Tenten was thinking jumbled thoughts as she ravenously downed her third bowl of noodles, kindly donated by Neji. She was slurping and splashing away, no longer caring for manners.

Neji was just sitting there, watching her eat noisily with a slight frown of irritation on his face. It was bad enough that he had to half-carry her here, but no, he had to sit through this.

As Tenten finished off the last of her noodles, she contentedly sat back, sighing in relief and patting her stomach. "That-" Tenten indicated her head towards the empty bowls, "-was good." With that she picked up her glass of water, and downed its contents down in one gulp.

When she loudly banged it back onto the table, Neji closed his eyes in irritation, not being able to bear watching her antics. He slowly held out a napkin to her, quietly saying, "Wipe your face."

Tenten heeded his command, and cleaned herself up. "Thanks for the meal!" she announced happily, after she had settled the napkin quietly onto the table, regaining her happiness and manners.

After a while, Neji slowly opened his eyes. "You do know that you have to pay me back, don't you?" he asked, nonchalantly.

Tenten blinked surprised. What kind of a gentleman was he? And she had bought him food yesterday as well! Knowing that arguing about it wouldn't work, she tried a new tactic.

Tenten fluttered her eyes prettily. "Is that so, Neji-_kun_?" Tenten said, with an impossibly sweet voice, "But you're my_boyfriend… _And it _is_ our _first date _too…"

The woman serving at the counter shook her head, disapprovingly at Neji. "Men these days…" she muttered grouchily, "Such cheapskates when it comes to their girlfriends..."

Neji scowled at Tenten, then at the serving lady and banged some money onto the counter. "Fine." He said, standing from his chair and walking out the shop destructively, knocking over most of the chairs. Tenten looked apologetically back at the serving lady and quickly followed Neji, in the role of the 'girlfriend'.

As she caught up with Neji, he spun around, irritation apparent on his face. "What was that?" he asked angrily, "Now people think we're together!"

Tenten tutted at Neji, swinging her index finger back and forth. "But we are," she said innocently, "Unless you want to train with Lee…"Tenten looked down to the ground and drew trails into the ground with her foot, the perfect image of innocence.

Neji didn't seem to be affected by her appearance. "No," he said angrily, "We are just _posing._" Tenten looked up at Neji and said, "Exactly. We pose in public! And we are in public! People are _supposed _to think we're together!"

With a scowl, Neji just trudged off, muttering, "Whatever!" As Tenten looked at his retreating back, she decided she needed to avenge herself for putting her through the training session from hell. And it was his fault she had starved, wasn't it?

"Neji!" she exclaimed catching up with him. "What?" he snapped, not stopping. "Well," Tenten began, "We're in public."

"And?" Neji asked, still not stopping. "Well, shouldn't you _act_like my boyfriend now?" Tenten asked, exasperated. For a genius he really wasn't as smart as he let on.

Tenten continued, trying not to sound annoyed, "Boyfriends walk their girlfriends home."

Finally, Neji stopped, a dark aura surrounding him. "Tenten," he breathed, "I agreed to pose as your boyfriend. I carried you to the food stall. I bought you food. What. More. Do. You. Want?"

Usually, Tenten would have _never _tried to annoy a Hyuuga. Especially_Neji_, the most dangerous and temperamental of _all_ the Hyuugas. But in this situation, Tenten felt as if she held the upper hand. Besides… what other opportunity would she ever have to embarrass him in again? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

"Oh look!" Tenten cried, falsely cheerful, "There's Lee! Maybe you should ask him to train with you!" With one last scowl, Neji trudged down the street adjacent to the one he was heading for. He was heading for Tenten's house.

Smiling happily, she walked after Neji, thinking 'This will be a thing to tell my grandchildren.' _Hyuuga Neji _walked her home. She could blackmail him with it! Yes… yes… blackmailing Neji…

As Tenten schemed in her head, following a very grumpy Neji, she didn't see another certain Hyuuga walking along and so, another time that day, she accidentally bounced into someone else.

"Oh," Tenten politely exclaimed, "Sorry Hinata. I didn't see you there." The said person just looked down to the ground and gave a small reply of, "Oh, no, Tenten-san, I'm sorry. G-good afternoon, Neji-nii-san, Tenten-san."

Neji gave a small nod, acknowledging her presence. "Hinata." He said in greeting. Tenten sighed at the formalities. They were _cousins_, for the Hokage's sake! "Hi, Hinata," Tenten said cheerfully and casually.

Tenten's friendliness and casual behavior made a smile light up on the meek Hyuuga's face. Finding the air comfortable enough to talk in, Hinata looked from Neji to Tenten.

"Is Neji-nii-san and Tenten-san going to train?" Hinata asked quietly.

"What?" Tenten asked, confused. Neji heatedly answered the question for her. "No," he said, trying to keep his annoyance from showing.

Prior to the third event of the chuunin exams, Hinata would have probably shied away from Neji's dismissive tone. But now, thanks to Uzumaki Naruto, who beat Neji _and _taught her to be brave, Hinata found her voice and sought to relieve her curiosity.

"B-but... then where are you g-going?" Hinata stammered. Before Neji could say anything offensive, which Tenten strongly believed he was proceeding to do from the scowl on his face and his opening mouth, Tenten replied before he could.

"Neji-_kun_is walking me home!" Tenten said happily, slinging an arm over Neji's shoulders, ignoring the deadly aura he was emitting. Hinata, looking shocked, looked from Tenten to Neji and back to Tenten again. She then looked at Tenten up and down, as if searching for something, or so Tenten thought it looked. Her suspicions were confirmed at Hinata's next question.

"Is Tenten-san hurt?" Hinata asked worriedly, compassion showing on her small face. Tenten blinked once, and realizing what Hinata thought, started chuckling. That act then caused Hinata to blush, feeling stupid for her question. Neji just scowled, his vacant expression gone for once.

"No," Tenten answered, after she had finished with her chuckling, "I'm not hurt Hinata. Actually, I'm capable of walking home by myself. Neji-_kun _is just being a good _boyfriend _by walking me home from our date!"

Now, Tenten desperately wanted to laugh aloud at the expression on the Hyuuga heiress's face. Poor Hinata blushed, stammered and a mix of confusedness, embarrassment and bewilderment appeared on her face. She looked at Neji, shocked, a look of disbelief on her face.

"_B-b-boyfriend?"_she stuttered, unusually loud for herself. Tenten only replied with a gleeful nod, fighting back giggles, while Neji just glared. Mr. PMSed Hyuuga style.

Once she was sure she wouldn't break out in random bursts of laughter, Tenten asked Hinata, "Why so surprised, Hinata?"

Hinata looked down, not wanting to be the objective of Neji's glares and said quietly, "Y-you don't l-look like you're t-together…"

Tenten had to frown at this. "Why not?" she asked, worrying that Neji wouldn't look like her boyfriend _enough _for her father's critical eyes.

"W-well," Hinata started, "C-couples usually h-hold hands or somethi- Oh My!" Hinata quickly looked at her watch and exclaimed, "I apologize, Neji-nii-san, Tenten-san. I'm late!"

And with that the little Hyuuga heiress ran off to whatever appointment she had.

The second Hinata disappeared from view, Tenten broke out into fits of hysterical giggles. "Wasn't… that… funny?" Tenten laughed, looking up at Neji. A particularly deadly looking Neji.

"Ten. Ten." He fumed, a scowl gracing his face, "You- No. You know what? Let's just get to your house as quickly as we can, before you can think of anymore crazy ideas."

And with that, he pushed her arm off his shoulder and stomped off, leaving a giggling Tenten to follow.

What he wasn't aware of was that Tenten wasn't giggling anymore. As she followed the extremely angry Neji, her thoughts trailed on what Hinata was saying before she left.

"_Y-you don't l-look like you're t-together…"_

Damn. Tenten needed it for them to look like they were together. Or else her father would find her out and she would be ruined. She _had _to make it look as if they were together. But how?

"_C-couples usually h-hold hands or something…"_

Holding…hands… Hmm… that would work… She'd just grab Neji's- WAIT._Holding hands _with_ Neji. _THE Hyuuga_ Neji. _It was practically suicide! Tenten had never known anyone who tried to hold hands with Neji and live to tell the tale! Of course, that was probably because no one had ever been stupid enough to try in the first place!

No. Holding hands with Neji was out of the question. But…

A sudden image of her father, looking particularly maniacal, and an old, oily, ugly suitor greedily clawing at her clothes popped up in her mind. There was no way in HELL she was getting married to someone like that. No. There was no way around it. She'd have to hold Neji's hand.

But…Neji? 'Stop it!' she thought to herself, furiously, 'Frankly, Neji will be better looking then any old, oily, ugly suitor! Not that I look at him in that way… No. His hand's the only option.'

Tenten looked towards the said person only to see his back. His bad mood seemed to have disappeared while he was watching the birds flying in the sky. What Tenten was looking intently at, however, was not his face. It was his right hand.

It was swinging. Swinging back and forth as she watched. 'Since when does Neji swing his arms?' Tenten thought to herself, but quickly shook that line of thought out of her mind. She had a mission and she could not fail. She looked at the swinging hand and willed herself to just clutch onto it. But every time she told her left hand to just reach out, her right hand would slap it away.

'Damn it!' she thought after her fourth, and failed try, 'Stop it right hand! Left hand has a mission!' When she realized how crazy that sounded, she mentally slapped herself. 'Good thing I didn't say that out loud.'

She looked at his hand, still casually swinging. She had had harder missions. She was just going to hold someone's hand, not save the entire village from ruin. Holding someone's hand. How was that hard?

'Not just _someone's_ hand. _Neji's _hand,' a little voice stated in her mind. No, she had to be brave. She would do it on the count of three.

Swinging. Back and forth. Back and forth.

_Back…forth… back… _One. Tenten clamped her eyes shut. _Back…forth… back… _Two. She stretched her left hand out. _Back…forth… back… forth… back… forth…_

Three.

_I-is anything happening? Why isn't anything happening? Oh No. Hell No. Am I dead? Did Neji kill me already? Damn, he's got good reflexes-_

"Tenten. What are you doing?"

_Oh. I'm not dead._

Tenten squeezed whatever she had grabbed. It felt like a hand... It felt surprisingly cool, yet surprisingly comfortable.

Slowly, very slowly, Tenten opened her eyes to behold the sight before her. 'Good. I grabbed the right thing,' she thought, seeing that she had grabbed Neji's hand. Then she slowly lifted her face to look at Neji's. 'Oh shit. I am so dead.'

Neji's face was dark, as he looked down to the ground, the atmosphere around him changing from comfortable to deadly. _Hyuuga _ was in for it. And the worst thing? Tenten was blushing. Bad. She wanted to crawl under a rock and die. She looked around, looking for anyone who could stop her early death, but they were just ignoring them, walking pass, not seeming to sense Neji's vibes.

No one could save her. Might as well face her fate. She looked up at the livid Hyuuga and tried to read his mood, where she couldn't read his face… but wait. Was that a _very _faint shadow of a blush staining Neji's cheeks?

Her shock must have shown on her face, because Neji saw it. The blush, which was probably non-existent in the first place, was no longer there. Eh, Neji blushing? Almost as rare as someone holding his hand! Wait no, that wasn't right. Trick of the light. Yes, that's right, what Tenten saw was a trick of the light.

Oh damn. Tenten felt it. The exclusive, homicidal Hyuuga Neji vibe, 3 years ago reserved for the Main Family of the Hyuuga clan. Even when it wasn't being directed at her, she was scared. Ever since he had overcome his hatred, courtesy of Naruto beating him to a pulp, and Neji's talk with Haishi-sama, she had not seen, or rather _felt_, the intensity of this certain glare for a long while. And now, she_herself _was its target.

Damn. She was so dead.

"Neji…"she said with a nervous chuckle, "Don't get me wrong, it's just when Hinata said we didn't look like we were together…"

Neji glared.

"Well…and she suggested holding…"

Neji glared again.

"We need to look like a couple…"

Neji glared even harder.

"I mean, pretend couple? Um… Sorry?" Tenten finished with a slightly apologetic look on her face. "Eh he he…" With that, she shuffled around nervously, drawing trails in the ground.

After Neji felt that he had glared a sufficient amount, he looked down at his right hand. Tenten's own hand was still clasping onto it, subconsciously, and he was quite surprised to see he had a tight grip on her hand as well. 'Did I do that…' he started wondering, when he shook that thought from his mind. 'No. I just need to get Tenten home as quick as possible. This is so annoying.'

Tenten looked up, surprised, when she felt a tug on her left hand. She was even more surprised to see her Neji clasping onto her hand and tugging it slightly, with a forced clam expression on his face. "Let's just get his over with," He muttered, annoyed.

She smiled and nodded, sending a mental 'thank you' across to Neji. As Neji trudged on, Tenten not exactly beside him, but not exactly behind him either, their clasped hands stayed perfectly still.

'Argh!' Tenten thought, nervous. People on the streets were shooting them looks that she couldn't decipher and she was starting to feel self conscious, preferring to duck behind Neji then to walk in the open.

That wasn't the only thing that was different either. The atmosphere had changed drastically. It was awkward, and Tenten couldn't help but feel that this was all a mistake, even if it was for her own sake. 'What is it that's different?' She wondered, before she realized Neji wasn't swinging anymore.

'He seems tense…' Tenten thought to herself. Then again, she felt quite tense as well. She was holding, not just anyone's hand, but Neji, her _boyfriend's _hand. Well supposed boyfriend, at least.

Now, Tenten wasn't one of those romanticizing girls, who would have thought that holding hands was a sweet and loving thing to do. In fact, she would go as far as admitting that maybe she was a _tiny_bit tomboyish. A VERY tiny bit.

That was why, as she walked along, holding Neji's hand, she didn't feel comfortable. Not one bit.

Her hand was starting to get itchy, but she didn't want to move her hand to scratch it, afraid of what would happen.

As she walked further along, her hand was starting to sweat. What would Neji think of her now? A weapons specialist with sweaty hands?

After a few more steps, her arm was starting to feel stiff. How could couples do this all the time?! It was too damn uncomfortable to bear!

And what Tenten felt was the worst about this experience… She was starting to enjoy it. No matter how itchy, sweaty or stiff her hand felt, she couldn't help but like the warmth of another person's hand, slowly leading the way.

'No!' Tenten thought desperately to herself, 'I can't like it! I can't! I'm not weak willed and easily led astray by males like those other girls! It's what makes them weak. I'm not enjoying this. I just_can't _enjoy this.'

'_Whatever you say…'_ a small voice said to her in her mind. "Shut up brain," Tenten scolded, scowling.

"Tenten, why are you talking to yourself?"

Oops.

After another ten minutes of Tenten struggling internally with herself and awkward and tense silence, they finally reached Tenten's house.

Their little walk had ended. _'And too soon,' _Tenten's uncontrollable voice commentated.

"Well," Tenten said, trying to fill the awkward silence, "This is my house!"

"Yes," Neji replied, coolly, "I realized."

"Uh…"Tenten started, too nervous to feel embarrassed, "Um, do you…wanna come in or something?" What was wrong with her? Any other day she could talk normally with Neji, as a fellow ninja. Just because he was _posing _as an intimate partner didn't mean she had to act any differently!

"No. It's ok. I should get going anyway." Neji replied indifferently.

"Oh." Tenten said, trying to mask her disappointment. No, not disappointment. Why would she be disappointed? "Well… See you tomorrow, then I guess. At Gai Sensei's reunion party?"

"Yes."

A few more minutes of awkward silence passed as Tenten tried to think of something to break the silence. Where was that usual _comfortable_silence she usually had in the presence of Neji?

Finally Neji himself decided to break the ice. "Tenten," he said, his face vacant.

Tenten appreciated him for saving them from further embarrassment, especially since he wasn't usually he one to stir up conversation. "Yes Neji?" she replied happily.

"Can you please let go of my hand?"

Okay. So he wasn't being selfless for once and thinking abou- _What?_Tenten looked down at her hand, and was surprised to see she was still holding Neji's hand with a tight grip.

"Sorry," she muttered, mortified. To make matters worse, she felt a large rush of blood flow to her cheeks. She quickly pulled her hand back, as if Neji's hand had been scorching hot and quickly ran into her house, not wanting to find herself in another embarrassing situation.

'I can't believe. I was holding hands with Neji.' She thought dazed, as she shut the door and pulled back the curtain to watch Neji.

"That was all Neji's fault!" she muttered firmly to herself, red-faced, as she watched the stoic Neji dash off, disappearing from view.


	4. A Picnic and Accidents

Day 3: A Picnic and Accidents

"Gai-sensei, what exactly are we doing?"

Tenten was currently sitting inside a bush, giving off a perfect view of a small field and its nearby lake, while being hidden at the same time. The weather was flawless, a gentle breeze blowing and a few stray clouds floating lazily around the vast blue sky. A few rowboats floated lazily around, tied up loosely along the edge of the lake, which was beginning to erode. The weather was perfect. Perfect for picnicking, in fact.

It was the day that her team usually met up for their monthly reunion, as they could hardly find time to talk to each other since Tenten, Neji and Lee had been slowly promoted to chuunin over the years. The idea, of course, was Gai-sensei's, which Lee happily, and willingly, went along with. Tenten didn't really mind but another thing could be said for Neji.

Lee and Gai-sensei had shamelessly stalked Neji for weeks, after he had refused to train with the team once a month, as at the time he had been the only one promoted. They would beg with Neji to reunite once a month by popping up in the most surprising of times, trying to pry a 'yes' out of him when his guard was down. Tenten grimaced slightly as she recalled what had happened when Lee decided he would pop up on Neji while the Hyuuga was taking a shower.

After that incident, a few broken bones and hospitalizations later, Neji had begrudgingly agreed, on the condition that Lee would never ever enter a room while Neji was most likely to be undressed again.

And so it had somewhat become a tradition that their former team would meet up on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Those days would usually be spent talking about current events and going out for lunch, and sometimes even training like the old days. It was like a rhythm Tenten had gotten used to, and she now even looked forward to their reunions.

That was why Tenten felt something was amiss when she found herself sitting in a fairly large bush, along with Gai-sensei, Lee, and a sour Neji.

In reply to Tenten's question, Gai-sensei turned towards her with a huge grin on is face. "Ah, Tenten," he spoke quietly, yet excitedly, "I'm afraid something has come up. We shall not be having our little reunion party this month. Instead… We have… a MISSION!"

Tenten cringed inwardly at the word 'mission'. She had been looking forward to today as well, promising herself she wouldn't blame Neji for everything... But a mission wouldn't be so bad… She _had_ been a bit out of practice since there were no calls for shinobi work for the last few days…

Flicking her eyes over her former teammates, she saw that Neji was trying to compress a look of interest and relief from spreading across his face. Lee was… Lee.

His face looked grim with determination and his eyes were sparkling vigorously. "A MISSION!" he exclaimed, as Tenten cringed again from the word, "No matter that our reunion was interrupted! I will try my hardest… for Gai-sensei… and Sakura-san!"

Well, looked like they were in. "What's the mission?" she asked, curious what was important enough to interrupt what Gai-sensei had deemed one of the top ten important things ever.

To her annoyance, her enquiry was ignored. "Ah, Lee!" Gai-sensei exclaimed, eyes shining, "That is the attitude that is expected in the face of danger! Motivation for your sensei and love! Striving on the Flames of Youth! Action in the Springtime of your You-"

"_Gai-sensei_," Tenten said through gritted teeth, "What is the mission?" The constant scratching and prickling of the bush was starting to annoy her. Her hair was being teased from its buns, causing it to constantly tickle her face. Plus, Neji was starting to look quite lethal as well and Lee looked as if he was about to cry from pride.

Gai-sensei didn't seem phased at the rude disruption. "Ah, yes…" he said, his face turning dark and apprehensive. "This… Mission… will most probably be one of the most difficult you, my former subordinates, will have to face! This single mission is of the greatest importance! Failure would immediately result in permanent maiming of your youth and mental trauma! This mission… will be… the Challenge of the Springtime… of your… YOUTH!"

Lee's face, if possible, looked even more determined at this. Neji even let a smidget of interest be shown on his face. And herself? She was looking forward to this.

Gai-sensei, getting even more riled up at the apprehension being shown on his former subordinate's faces, carried on, confidence weighing down every syllable. "But do not fear my former subordinates! I deem you capable of getting though this! I BELIEVE in you!" He flashed the signature thumbs-up sign before returning to a serious tone. "My former subordinates… this mission… involves spying. Spying on one of the most dangerous shinobi known to this world! The mission… Is to spy on…"

Gai-sensei was suddenly cut off as the four felt the presence of people approaching the field. This was it.

Tenten tightened her forehead protector as she prepared for the task ahead of her. She flipped a kunai out of her holster testing its durability. Glancing over at everyone else, she saw them preparing for the assignment as well.

Taking care to be hidden, Tenten faced towards the field, ready for the mission.

She sensed four figures. As Tenten reached out to analyze the targets, she was rather surprised that they did not attempt to conceal their chakra at all. They all seemed at peace…

She tried to squeeze herself in a more convenient position, ignoring the scratching of the bush, trying to make absolutely no sound, and waited.

Slowly, footsteps could be heard. Tenten braced herself. Shadows could be seen approaching.

Damn… One of them was stronger then she thought. She tightened her grip on her kunai as she felt a tiny bubble of unwanted apprehension pop up in her stomach. And if one of them made a mistake, it could be fatal.

Slowly, slowly, the figures appeared into view… A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and onto her nose, but she didn't dare to move. One mistake…

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei, is it here? I'm hungry!"

"Shut up, dobe."

"Don't annoy Sasuke-kun, Naruto!"

"Settle down. We're here."

…

WHAT?

"SAKURA-SAN!" Lee yelled blissfully, running out of the bush and blowing their cover.

Gai-sensei was so going to be the new target for her target practice.

i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i.

"Ah, Kakashi, my Eternal Rival! You have beaten me this time, but I, Maito Gai, still stand in the lead at 99 to 98!"

"Hmm? Did you say something?"

Tenten watched contentedly as Gai-sensei was subjected to the techniques of Kakashi. He deserved it. Making them spy on _his _rival on a day off and leading them to think that a life threatening, vital mission was at hand. She smiled happily, seeing tears of despair streaming down her former Sensei's face as she tuned out from their conversation, looking for the others.

Neji and the Uchiha boy were nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't so surprising. She was quite disappointed to see that Lee was engaged in an all out battle with Naruto. That is, an all out battle to win Sakura's affection by seeing who could set the picnic supplies brought out by Team Seven the fastest.

The cause of the commotion, Sakura, was currently sitting on a nearby tree stump, watching the two boys clumsily juggle plates and food, an apprehensive look stamped onto her face.

A look of relief washed over the girl's face as all the supplies were placed down safely, no damages caused. Tenten could sympathize; though Lee was a Taijustsu master, when in a spur, he was prone to cause accidents.

"So," Sakura said, smiling at Tenten. She could feel the girl seemed a bit nervous. The two girls hardly knew each other, if at all, and Tenten didn't exactly feel peachy about her, given her history with Lee and all.

"Um…" the petal-haired girl stalled, thinking of something to talk about. Her face brightened up a bit as she found a subject. "I saw you the other day, walking with Neji. Are you two together?"

Tenten smiled widely at this, a triumphant feeling spreading across her body. Her plan had worked! At this rate, she could kiss goodbye to marriage!

"Yes!" Tenten replied quickly, excitement evident in her voice. Clearing her throat, she pushed down her excitement and trying to sound normal. "Yes. I mean… Sort of…" A sheepish grin appeared on her face, wondering how Neji would feel about her spreading this information to a person who would most likely yap about it all across the village.

Sakura smiled a genuine smile. "Aw!" she exclaimed, a dreamy look appearing in her eyes, "That was so sweet of Neji! I wish Sas- A boy would take me out and hold my hand! You're so lucky, Tenten!"

Tenten grinned, mentally nodding to herself. Yes, she was lucky wasn't sh- what? No. She wasn't lucky! She was going through hell! She was unlucky, even desperate to have to resort to holding Neji's hand! How could Sakura- how could _she _think that-

Tenten knew what it was. Sakura, Lee and Naruto must all share an undiscovered toxin. Being around the romantically-unfortunate must be affecting her.

Before she could reply to Sakura's comment, she was interrupted. A sound of two bodies colliding with each other, falling on and smashing plates and cries of outrage could be heard, nearby where Tenten was conversing with Sakura.

She saw Neji and the Uchiha boy zip back to the field to see what all the commotion was about. But Tenten didn't have to look to know what had happened.

Slowly turning her head around, her eyes were greeted with the sight of Naruto and Lee, bodies tangled up with each other, lying on top of what used to be a full plate of rice cakes, a large cake and other assorted foods.

"NARUTO!" Sakura screeched, throwing off her look of politeness.

Hmm. Tenten had been hungry too.

i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i.

Fifteen minutes later, Tenten found herself being ushered over to the rowboats by an enthusiastic Gai-sensei and not-so-enthusiastic Kakashi.

"Don't worry, subordinates of my eternal rival and myself," Gai said, flashing a thumbs up, "_We_ shall look for food while you can go enjoy the Springtime of your Youth!"

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. He lowered his voice to what he thought was a quiet tone before saying, "I can rowboat with Sakura-chan… and I will pledge my love to her in the romantic atmosphere…"

Unfortunately, Lee had had the same idea. "Ah," he said, his eyebrows knitting close to each other, "Unfortunately for you, it will not be you rowing with Sakura-san and pledging your love! I, Rock Lee-"

"What? You, Fuzzy eyebrows?"

Sakura, who had heard every word, began to edge her way nervously over to Sasuke, who just ignored her, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Tenten eyed the rowboats warily. There were 3 of them, and none looked too sturdy. All looked aged and breakable. "Gai-sensei…" Tenten began, "I don't think…"

"No." The Uchiha boy stated bluntly, "I am _not_ row-boating."

For once, Neji seemed to agree with someone. "I'm with Uchiha. This is a useless task."

At this Gai seemed at a lost for words. He didn't know what to say. Luckily, he was saved by the most unsuspecting person, Kakashi.

"Eh. Sasuke, Neji." Kakashi said, lazily. Tenten was surprised. She had never heard anyone say Neji's name so… so… aloofly. "You can think of it as training," he continued, "Strengthening your arms."

The two had been caught at the word 'training'. Both eyed each other suspiciously, Tenten smiled slightly. Both number one rookies of their year, both geniuses, the rivalry was expected.

"Fine." Neji snapped, turning away. The Uchiha boy, seeming to have no choice since Neji had agreed, gave off a 'Hmmph' before turning away towards the first boat and sauntering off.

"Oh," Kakashi said, with what seemed like a grin on his face, "Two to a boat! We wouldn't want any of you to be caught in the middle of the lake by yourselves, would we?" Tenten heard a few skeptical snorts come from Neji and the Uchiha. She agreed with them. Who would be stupid enough to- Oh. She would have to avoid getting in a boat with Naruto or Lee, then.

Luckily, and unluckily, she had been saved from this trauma by a most unsuspecting person. "Tenten," gushed Sakura, the dreamy look back in her eyes, "Are you going to row with Neji? Since he's your boyfriend and all? How romantic!"

A wave of annoyance washed over her face. Now Neji would know she had told! That loud-mouthed…

But… then she wouldn't be stuck with any accident-prone people! Tenten grinned, remembering that Neji was her _supposed _boyfriend… it made sense!

Turning around to hop in Neji's boat, she noticed a familiar prickling sensation pierce her skin. There it was. Not again! Tenten cringed, knowing fully who the glare was coming from and that she was definitely its target. And she cringed again, having realized her mistake.

She was so dead.

Sakura, being untactful as she was, had said it loud enough for everyone there to hear. Loud enough that Lee, Naruto, Gai-sensei and _worse, _the Uchiha boy had heard it. She quickly turned around, flashing an apologetic grin at Neji, but that didn't stop the two white eyes glaring at her. A dangerous aura surrounded the Prodigy and Tenten swore it was deteriorating the boat around it.

What was worse was the Uchiha boy's face. Though he said nothing, it was obvious what he was thinking. His face was practically scorning Neji, as if to say, 'Pah? Boyfriend? How pathetic.'

Again, Tenten cringed as she felt the glare intensify, if possible. That glare had been directed at her a lot lately. She could practically feel Neji's future kunai digging into her flesh.

A look of horror flashed onto Lee's face. Astonishment was evident in his round eyes. "Tenten!" he said, half gasping, "You're dating this… _monster!"_

Death by Hyuuga. How charming.

Damn it! She couldn't risk getting Neji any more peeved off! Laughing loudly and looking a bit crazed, Tenten skipped over to Neji's boat. "Better get rowing! Don't want to waste the Springtime of our Youths, do we?" And with that she hopped into the battered boat, before anymore could be said.

Unfortunately, Tenten had forgotten the boats less-then-fresh state and her sudden weight to the boat caused it to tip, dropping the left oar from its hold. Cursing softly as she regained her balance, she looked over at Neji who was grinning at her smugly.

"What?" she asked, a suspicious expression creeping onto her face.

"Tenten," Neji said, a smirk tweaking his mouth and speaking in a totally civil tone. Tenten knew otherwise. This Hyuuga could hold a grudge. "Aren't you going to get that oar?"

A frown appeared on her face as she realized what he was so smug about. Tenten wasn't good with boats. She preferred balanced things, it helped with her aim. Neji knew it too.

"Aren't you going to be a gentleman, Neji?" Tenten asked, a strained smile replacing her frown.

Neji scoffed, still with his slate-like face, irking Tenten with every movement. "No."

Scowling, Tenten sat down and leaned on the side of the boat. She knew there was no arguing. Besides, this wasn't as bad as a punishment Neji could dish out. Actually this was quite easy.

So on a rickety old boat, Tenten was leaning over, trying not to tip the boat while trying to reach out as far as possible as well. Reaching for the oar, she found that she was just a few inches off. She stretched out a bit, leaning her stomach on the edge of the boat, ignoring the dangerous angle it was tipping. The oar… was just… too far away. Her hand swiped at the water, sending chills up her arm at he sudden change in temperature. The water was cold.

How had she come into this situation! Feeling quite irate, she blew a loose strand of hair away from her face, and tried again. Reach… Reach… A little further… She felt her hand touch the cold water but she ignored it. A few more centimeters… There! Got it!

Feeling triumphant, she grinned and began pulling herself back up, when suddenly she felt a sudden change in the angle of the boat. Oh, this didn't feel right. Panic running through her body, she turned around just in time to see Neji leaning over her side of the boat, adding extra weight and causing her torso to dip into the water.

Before she knew it, a cold rush of water swarmed around her body, blocking out her gasp of indignation and causing goose bumps to form.

_Oh no._

Water flowed into her nostrils and mouth.

_Oh Damn._

She waved her arms around slowly, the water holding her back as she panicked without air. Air! She needed… it.

_Oh… Help._

When Tenten had felt that all was lost, she felt a strong set of arms pull her above the water's surface… and what was this flowing through her?

Air! Beloved air.

"Air!" she spluttered, dazed and gasping, "Air! How long I have been separated from thee!"

A skeptical look gracing the Hyuuga's face, he let go of the, saturated, eccentric Tenten as she snapped back into her usual self.

"Ne…ji…" she breathed, her turn to glare. Ahahaha. Neji was _so _dead.

The reply wasn't satisfactory, however. No squirms, no humble apologies, no remorseful looks… While Tenten was sitting there, cold, numb and shivering, the gentlest of breezes moving across her skin like sandpaper, Hyuuga Neji sat there, one eyebrow slightly raised, his face as blank as ever.

"What?"

Neji was not dead. Neither was he going to be. _Neji was dead yesterday._

SPLASH.

Just as she was about to whip out a kunai, she was interrupted by cold droplets dashing onto her face. Turning her head around, she was not surprised to see Naruto and Lee arguing over a boat to row with Sakura. They were too busy arguing and trying not to tip the boat over a the same time, they didn't notice that Sakura had managed to score a boat with Sasuke, who looked quite relieved that he wouldn't have to row with Naruto or Lee.

Directing a final (wet) glare at Neji, Tenten grabbed the retrieved oar and squeezed it back into its broken hold. In an unspoken truce, the two rowed silently into the lake, slowly and in perfect timing.

Passing by Naruto and Lee, who both had finally decided to co-operate with one another, Tenten could see that they were trying to spy on Sakura, who was blushing and trying to start a conversation with the silent Uchiha, rowing the boat solo.

Not concentrating on rowing, Tenten's hand slipped from the oar and she managed to catch it before it fell into the water. Damn, the handle was wet and slippery! This was all…

Deciding to do the mature thing and _not _blame it on Neji, she swallowed her annoyance and rowed on.

The gentle rhythm of the oars lapping on the water in time was relaxing. Never mind she was freezing and wet. Tenten felt all her anger and troubles fly away as she listened to the water, the birds and the gentle breathing of Neji. So peaceful… She was glad she got to have this day just relaxing, with Neji…

Her train of thought was broken as she heard a small yell. Turning her hear, careful to keep hold on the oar, she saw that Sakura and Sasuke had swapped jobs, with Sakura rowing. She had obviously rowed into a rock or something and Sasuke, due to the impact, fell on top of Sakura. It was almost funny, really. Tenten smiled to herself, thinking how much it looked like they were kissi-

"SAKURA-SAAAAN!"

In unison, two voices yelled, two sets of arms rowed, two hormone-crazed boys were… rowing… at speeds achievable only by ones as hormone-driven as those two boys… coming right towards… Sakura… and Sasuke…who were behind… _Tenten's boat._

Oh Damn.

Oh Shit.

Oh… no.

"Row."

With a simple word from Neji he began rowing his oar swiftly without panicking. Another thing could be said for Tenten. She wasn't good with boats. Not very good at all.

Tenten didn't know what to do. All she could see was a boat speeding their way towards her, causing the water's surface to ripple and quake, ruining its serene appearance.

"_Row._"

Right. She only had to row! Setting her panic aside, her eyes glinting with determination, Tenten grabbed her oar and pulled it towards her as fast as she could. Holding on tight, she began to rotate it around. Push… Pull… Push… Pull…

They were moving! A this rate they wouldn't get hit! Tenten grinned, gaining confidence and pushed the oar around, forgetting that it was still wet from when it had fallen in…

Damn. Her hand began to… slip. Realizing what was happening, Tenten tried to pull the oar towards her but, too late, it slipped right out of her hands and… into the water. Oh No. Oh Damn. Why must the heavens taunt her so?

Giving a cry of anguish she watched the boat float uselessly around in circles, Neji still rowing as he hadn't realized what had happened. Neji was going to be mad. And Naruto and Lee's boat had almost reached them!

Not one to give up, Tenten made a grab for the oar… further… still further… Not caring about being wet, she allowed herself to skim the top of the water's surface, grim determination marring her face. A little more… a little more…

Too late.

Tenten didn't hear the boats collide. She didn't hear the boats smash. She was already in the water my then. The cold, cold water… swarming around her legs, arms, body, face…

Damn. Damn with a capital D! She was going to _Kill _Lee. Kill with a capital K. Tenten pushed herself above the water, taking a gulp of air and shivering from the low temperatures. Oh well. At least she could swim…

"That's the one thing I have going for me…" Tenten thought grumpily, wading around in the water and brushing her wet locks from her face.

That was her last thought before she saw a big oar coming towards her. And then… total darkness.

i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i.

_Ouch. Stop that. That hurts. Ouch!_

Black.

_Where am I? I am… I am… AIR. I NEED AIR!_

Poke.

The first thing Tenten felt as she woke up, cold and shivering on the edge of the lake, was a sharp jab around her stomach. Next was the water coming up her throat.

And doing what any normal person would do, she spat the water up through her mouth… right into a certain Byakugan user's face.

Oops.

Remembering that she was in the water, Tenten sat up quickly, panic filling her body, thinking she was still in… and collided with Neji's head as he had been leaning over her. Finally noticing she was safe on land, she looked at Neji, who seemed to be looking quite peeved.

To add to it all, at that very moment, she sneezed into Neji's face.

If it wasn't Tenten, she would of laughed.

When she realized what position she was it, Tenten both blushed at the proximity of their faces and constricted in fear at what Neji would do. For some ungraspable reason she wanted to reach out and touch his smooth, white cheek. But his face was _dangerously_ blank.

"This is what I get," he began, seething, "For helping you, who _fainted_, from drowning. For saving you from the _shame_ of having Gai-sensei or that idiot give you CPRS. For _saving your life_. You _spit in my face_, _cause me head injuries_ and _shoot your bacteria directly at me_."

Tenten's blush only deepened, her brain a bit slow from the time she had missed. "Y-you gave me mouth to mouth?"

Neji only cast a disdainful glance in Tenten's direction, before standing up. "We Hyuuga don't use such barbaric techniques," He said primly, "I simply poked you."

Oh. Good. She didn't actually want him to have given her CPRS did she?

Tenten shook her head slowly, getting rid of any aftereffects she had from her near-drowning experience, noticing the other picnickers looking at her concerned, and packing up the picnic supplies.

Butterflies flew in Tenten's stomach. What could have been if Neji hadn't thought to poke her, and done the other unspeakable thing instead? She didn't want to know. What would have happened if she had actually reached out? She didn't want to know either. Everything was just so confusing!

If she had never needed to be saved by him, she wouldn't be feeling this damn nervous or confused! It was all that oar's…

It was that moment Tenten remembered…

"NEJI!" she screamed, jumping up, "How DARE YOU hit my in the face with YOUR OAR! I paid for ALL THOSE SWIMMING LESSONS only to be WASTED 'cause you HIT ME WITH AN OAR! WITH NO APOLOGY!"

Damn her resolution. This was all Neji's fault!

i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i. i...i.


	5. Mission

…

Day 4: Mission

…

"ACHOO!"

Unexpected things, ironically, were expected in the village of Konoha. But it didn't mean they were welcomed.

For the second time that week, the inhabitants living on that certain street were rudely awakened by a most unwelcome commotion coming from exactly the same house that had caused the first one. Sounds of the just-replaced lamps crashing and wailing children filled the street, once again breaking the serene silence.

Alas. Tenten had one of the most feared ailments amongst the ninja community.

Tenten had a cold.

Why a cold was feared so much, some may ask. Blocked noses, numb limbs, clogged senses, watery eyes, sluggish reactions, slurred movement… No. A cold _had _to be the most fearful thing to befall a ninja.

"_Achoo_!" Tenten sniffed grumpily, rubbing eyes. Oh… poo. Why must she have this cold? Well, that was easy. One word; Neji.

If he hadn't scared her so yesterday, she wouldn't have of dropped the oar into the water and her hand would never have slipped at that crucial moment and crashed with Naruto and Lee's boat, causing her to fall into the water and catch this accursed cold! And to boot, if he had been an even more tolerable _pretend _boyfriend, she would have never been feeling so nervous and stressed and her usually functioning immune system would never have been so down!

Yup. She had stopped trying to deny it. Everything always came back to _him. _

"_Achoo_!"

'Ah well,' Tenten thought wearily, rubbing her numb nose, 'Today's mission might be good. I can learn to work with a cold.'

She was halfway through the week. After a few more antagonizing days and a meeting between Neji and her parents, it would all be over and everything could get back to normal. She wouldn't lose to her father, not in a million years!

Pulling a tissue from the now near empty tissue box, she hastily wiped her nose, deposited her breakfast bowl (quite loudly) into the sink and stalked out of the kitchen, making sure to give signs that she was ignoring her father. Smiling with satisfaction as he, pretending to read the newspaper, winced with her every stomp, Tenten was about to go to her room to prepare for her mission when she was interrupted by her mother at the base of the staircase.

"Tenten, dear," her mother said, lines of concern present on her face, "When are you going to give up this… 'feud' with your father?" Her hands were nervously wringing her dressing gown, fearing her daughter's answer.

A look of obstinacy appeared in Tenten's eyes as she gave a reply. "When he gives up his absurd notion of marriage and suitors!" At her mother's sad face, she quickly added, "Don't worry about it, Ma. It'll be over soon." 'All thanks to Neji,' she thought to herself, smiling and waving her hand in assurance.

The look of concern didn't leave her mother as she sighed, lines of weariness and age marring her face. "Tenten…" she said, before shaking her head dismissively, "Just take care of yourself. I'm still surprised they would give a chuunin a mission on the day of the chuunin exams, what with what happened a few years back…"

Tenten's reassuring smile dropped like a ton of bricks. Chuunin… Exams…?

"_Now remember," an exited Gai-sensei chirped, "Tomorrow, you must come to the mission department early!"_

_A shivering and saturated Tenten looked up, surprised. "But isn't it the chuunin exams tomorrow?"_

_Neji 'hmphed' loudly._

"_Yes!" exclaimed an unnaturally excited Lee, despite his wet state, "A chance to redeem myself in Tenten and Neji's eyes!"_

_Tenten shot Lee a quick glare before voicing her apprehensions. "But Gai-Sensei, what about what happened with that Orochi-"_

"_EXCELLENT! I'll be waiting, o-six-hundred hours sharp!" the eccentric teacher yelled, before shoving Tenten on her way and scampering off._

O-six-hundred… her eyes flitting quickly towards the hallway clock, a look of realization and despair dawned on her face as she realized the time.

…7:24!

A small squeak escaping her lips, she gave her mother a quick hug, before bounding towards the door. "See ya, m-ACHOO!"

Her mother raised her hand in surprise, towards her frantic daughter. "Don't forget your-"

The door slammed shut.

"…coat."

….

Tenten cringed under the piercing white gaze of a certain Hyuuga, and the one person quickly becoming the source of all her suffering.

"You're late."

Her forehead creased in annoyance. "I am aware of that." She leaned onto the wall next to him and closed her eyes, pushing down her exasperation.

Neji's face was indifferent. "Why?"

She looked at him, shifting her eyes angrily towards him. "Because of y-ACHOO!"

Neji closed his eyes, disgust and superiority apparent on his face. "How repulsive."

Tenten clenched both her fists, trying to hide the blush of disgrace creeping onto her face as she sniffed, indignantly. "Why are you out here anyway? Waiting for me to come so you can criticize me?"

Anger quickly flashed in his eyes and Tenten was surprised to see the usually controlled Neji's left eye twitch. "I… was sent out here to wait for you. Because you were unusually late."

Tenten raised an eyebrow. There was obviously another story to this, but as the always stoic Neji didn't appear to be wanting to share it, she dismissed the thought and gently pushed herself off the wall. "Well, I'm here. Let's go then."

Neji gave a shadow of a smirk appear on his face before he, in turn, pushed himself off the wall. "Let's."

Tenten smiled, determination shining in her eyes as she followed Neji through the bustling halls of the academy. Everyone was worked up into a hype with the chuunin exams. People rushing from room to room, preparing for the 3rd exam… After 3 years, the exam had rounded back to Konoha, with the Kages of all the competing countries deciding that what happened with the last Konoha exams was a one-off thing, though it took a while to pass. But Konoha was still not going to let their guard down, even knowing that no-one would surely try another attack on Konoha at the chuunin exams. Still, 2 dead Kages and devastating destruction… The security would be top notch this year.

As she passed several rooms she heard talks of security and safety measures… Make sure there are ninjas set to every twenty metre mark along the village walls… Be sure to assign the Hokage and other attending Kages top security… Secure all the bulls in the village, they were on a stampede last time…

Tenten was excited. Even her cold couldn't bring her down. Maybe she would be assigned to guarding the stadium… that might get her a good position to view the contestants… Or maybe she would be set near the Kages' platform… maybe she would get to talk to Tsunade-sama…

Tenten halted her thoughts as Neji halted abruptly. Tenten stopped herself before she would bump into him and looked around his shoulder to see why he had stopped. Her excitement bubbled in her stomach when she saw they had approached the room where missions were assigned.

"Well?" Tenten asked with anticipation, "Open the door, Neji!"

Neji raised his hand to the handle, appearing to be hesitant, before letting his hand drop suddenly. "Tenten," he said seriously, "Before we go in, I should warn you, ignore anything Gai-sensei sa-"

He was cut short when the door was abruptly slid open.

"Ah! The couple has finally arrived!"

The excited face of Gai-Sensei was shoved into Tenten's face as she was pulled into the room. He seemed to have forgotten how late she had been.

"Neji had been so worried about you Tenten!" Gai-sensei jabbered on, "He was practically having a breakdown! I told him you would be fine but he _insisted _he'd go wait for you!"

Ah. So that was why Neji was so peeved before. Tenten didn't like to think what he could have been subjected to in the hour he had been here in the company of Gai-sensei with the prospect of his supposed relationship with Tenten still fresh in their minds. And she honestly doubted Neji had been worried and that enthusiastic about finding her as Gai-sensei portrayed.

Choosing to ignore Neji's glares and Gai-sensei's comments, Tenten inspected the room, as all good ninjas do. Looking around, she saw an assembly of a few chuunins, jounins and high-ranked ninjas, including Tsunade-sama, sitting behind a row of tables.

She had been in the company of the legendary Tsunade-sama before, but that didn't stop Tenten from being any less honoured to be near her. She tried to smile politely while concealing her excitement at the same time.

Surprisingly, and to Tenten's delight, the Hokage just happened to wish to speak with her…

"So," she said, closing her clear brown eyes thoughtfully, "I hear you and Hyuuga-san here are courting."

…for the wrong reasons.

Tenten's cheeks flushed embarrassed. Tsunade-sama knew! Who could of- Tenten's eyes turned into slits as she threw a sharp glare towards Gai-sensei, only to have him wink and tap his nose in a seemingly knowing fashion. Looking back to the Hokage, her blush deepened even more when she saw Tsunade-sama's mutual expression.

Was Tenten going to get in trouble? The Hokage knew about her 'relationship'! Damn Gai-Sensei… Damn her accursed father… There weren't any rules against relationships between work colleagues were there? It was just highly… not recommended! Not… recommended… at all. Tenten bit her lip in anxiety. What if Tsunade-sama thought any less of her…? What if…

"Well," the said person called in a stern voice as Tenten tried not to gulp. As the Hokage opened her eyes and looked into her own, Tenten knew the answer couldn't be good.

She held her breath as the Hokage continued.

"Well, Tenten-san. Congratulations. With your expertise in weaponry and Hyuuga-san's talents and bloodline abilities, I'm confident that you will breed a new generation of excellent ninjas for Konoha."

…what?

The room was so silent, the ticking of the wall clock could be heard. She, and Tenten was sure everyone else in the room, could feel heat and anger radiating from a certain Hyuuga-san standing not far behind her, whose glare she could feel being exchanged from her, to the Hokage to Gai-sensei. She could practically see Gai-sensei's tears of pride and joy streaming down his cheeks. And to add to the climax…

"_Achoo_!"

Her eyes widening groggily in disbelief, Tenten could only muster out one incoherent sentence.

"_B-Breed? Bree- _but- I- Neji- Um…?"

The atmosphere of the room was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable indeed. _Breed? _Tenten had never thought of Neji in such a way! And she didn't want to start, either… That was just disgusti-

"Anyway," began Tsunade-sama, smiling happily, seemingly immune to the awkwardness in the room, "As you all know, you are here because you, deemed as highly capable ninjas, will be assigned missions today, the day of the chuunin exam. Come forward and I will assign you to your missions."

As the missions were assigned, the mood of the room once again rested in a brisk, busy air and the room's audience stared to relax they lined up. Tenten tried her hardest to avoid eye contact with Neji, as she feared his glare might turn her into stone. Quickly jumping in the queue behind the Uchiha boy, who just smirked at her, she slightly cringed as she felt Neji's dark aura plant itself behind her. Though she couldn't see him and he made no move to communicate with her, Tenten was convinced that if she moved one millimeter out of line, her bones would be crushed before she could say 'girlfriend'. Literally.

She almost cried with relief when it was her turn to be assigned to a mission. As she approached the head desk, she smiled at Tsunade-sama politely, desperately trying to forget what had just happened.

"Ah, Tenten-san," she said, calculatingly, "You will be placed at the western side of the gate, at point 23, to guard the village's borders."

"Guard… Duty?"

She wouldn't even get to watch the match. How… how… argh! This had been a bad week. A very bad week. Was everyone, no, every_thing _against her?

"A problem?" enquired the Hokage, raising an eyebrow as if daring her to argue with her position. Admired or no, this was going into Tenten's bad books.

"No, Hokage-same," Tenten said, trying not to grit her teeth. Either everyone hated her or she was very, very unlucky. This was the worst week of her life.

"Good," said Tsunade, content, "You will be on guard from eleven a.m. to five p.m. with Uchiha Sasuke. When you get to point 23, signal the current guards before moving on to duty. Now-"

Before Tsunade-sama could continue, the outraged face of Gai-sensei was shoved rudely into the Hokage's.

"B-but Hokage-sama!" he exclaimed, outraged, "How can this work? You did not partner Tenten here with her beloved Neji!"

Oh dear. This was not going to be good.

In reply, Gai-sensei received a raised eyebrow. "Gai," Tsunade-sama said tiredly, holding a hand to her head, "Why is this relevant-"

She was interrupted by a loud gasp from Gai Sensei, and a horrified reply. "Hokage-sama! Do you not remember how it feels? First, young love?" He received a glare at young, "If Neji and Tenten are separated… How will they fight? Pining, wondering, and worrying over whether the other is safe… needing… yearning for the other's smiles… desir-"

Slam. Down came Tsunade-sama's hand onto the table. "Fine, Gai!" she exclaimed tiredly, directing a finger at Neji, "Hyuuga. I was originally going to assign you to security around the stadium of the third exam near the Hokage's balcony, but now Uchiha can have your position. You are getting re-assigned to guard duty at point 23 with Tenten. Now OUT."

Gai-sensei threw Tenten a quick wink and thumbs up before she was being shoved from the room, she knew she was dead. At Uchiha's smug expressions and Neji's dangerous level of expressionless expression, she couldn't help but wish she had just accepted her father's damn suitor whoever he was.

No. She was NOT that desperate.

The door to the room, and her last possible chance of salvation, slid shut.

"Achoo!"

….

_Cold. S-so cold. Dammit, it's bloody freezing!_

As the wind scraped across her bare arms like sandpaper, Tenten bitterly thought of her beloved coat. All warm… and thick… and soft…

"ACHOO!"

It was so much colder up top the wall signifying the borders of Konoha. Up there, the wind was free to blow, unconfined by buildings and walls and the air was colder, being higher up. Though the sun still shone, many storm clouds dotted the sky, signifying coming storms. And up top the wall at point 23 was the worst possible place to be if you had a cold. As to say, the worst possible place to be if you were Tenten.

"AAA-CHOO!"

Without any tissues, Tenten sniffed loudly, not wanting her- very red and completely numb- nose to run. Rubbing her hands over her bare arms in a desperate attempt to make heat, she grudgingly pondered if there was any use to trying not to freeze to death as some other misfortunate event would probably do her in anyway some time during the week.

Shivering dangerously, she sat down inside the shelter of the watch tower, held her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shivering even more violently at the coldness clinging to her thin, silk pants. Her silk top didn't help either.

She was going to die here. Tenten could feel it. The merciless wind and weather would get to her in the end. And if not the weather, she was going to die from stress. And if not from that, then from thinking too much. And if not from that, then from…

Too deep in her thoughts, Tenten didn't realize, until that moment, that her arms weren't as cold as before. Looking around and taking in her surroundings, she was surprised to see that someone, and she had a good, if not slightly crazed, idea who, had wrapped his _nice, warm _coat (Tenten's heart thumped at the word 'coat') around her shoulders.

"N-Neji?" she half croaked, half stuttered, looking up at him. Neji was currently standing on the edge of the wall, doing what they were supposed to be doing and keeping watch. Tenten felt guilty, as he was standing there in his thin, white t-shirt, with the smallest of goose bumps marring his pale arms.

She nervously shifted her eyes, cursing her own stupidity of not bringing a coat. "Y-you don't have to do thing f-for me, you know…"

He looked back, his face void of any emotion and eyes betraying nothing. "I know."

Tenten's eyes quizzically gazed into his white orbs, trying to look for an answer. "Then… why-"

"Because," Neji began, turning back to his position, "you looked cold." Tenten's eyes softened and she felt a small smile (and though she denied it later on, it was accompanied by a blush) appear on her face. Neji was being nice to her…

"And because you look pitiful. Your nose is running, if you are not aware."

Well, that kind of broke the spell! Her blush deepening though this time because of shame, Tenten haughtily sniffed loudly and ignored his comment. Still, he was being _extraordinarily _nice to her, and although he seemed invincible, Tenten knew he was cold…

"Neji, come here." As Neji whipped his head around, Tenten gestured for him to approach her with her fingers.

Not a trace of emotion emerged onto his face though he asked, "Why?"

Tenten smiled slightly at his cautious nature. "Just come here." And very surprisingly, he obliged.

Stepping slowly and very hesitantly, Neji advanced towards her. "What?" he asked, slightly peeved.

As Tenten smiled sheepishly, she gestured towards the coat around her shoulders. "C'mon. Your coat is big enough to share." She almost burst out laughing as Neji's eyes narrowed with suspicion and, unexpectedly, surprise.

"What?"

Tenten just rolled her eyes exasperatingly, trying to hide the smile her traitorous lips were forming. He was very shy for a genius. "Sit," she said, trying not to sound patronizing, and pointing to the space beside her. Neji, his eyes still contracted with suspicion took a seat beside her. The moment he sat down, Tenten threw his coat over both their shoulders before he could protest.

She let herself go and smiled, feeling a strange wave of contentment run through her. "There," Tenten sighed as if she had just finished a long and painful task, "Now we can both keep warm!"

Neji didn't reply, choosing to sit there quietly without protesting to her actions, his eyes betraying nothing, but just.

….

"I can't believe we missed the whole exam!"

A disgruntled Tenten stood at the stadium gates, eyeing the discarded food wrappings. She frightened the last few stragglers by glaring at them lethally as they hurried past her.

Just… just… ugh! Tenten seriously hoped karma was going to get its gear into action and repay her for all of this… this… misfortune! She suppressed the urge to chuck a shuriken at a nearby boy rambling to his friend about how good the exam was.

"AHH!"

Woops. She _didn't _suppress it. Oh well, she already started, now to finish the job…

Tenten felt a hand restrain her throwing arm, ready to hurl some more shuriken (a dozen, to be exact) at the retreating youngsters. She turned around, ready to strangle whoever it was, but settled for, quite begrudgingly, muttering murderous threats under her breath as she saw who it was.

"Tenten." Neji said calmly, his face showing no annoyance of missing the exams. "There's nothing to be done about it now." He seemed to hesitate slightly, before grabbing Tenten's arm and pulling her along. "Come on."

Tenten let her confusion be apparent, being in no mood to be considerate for other's feelings. "And where might we be going, Mr. I-Know-Everything?"

Neji just gave her a glance before moving on, his face reaching a world-record level of 'slate-likeness'. "I have to walk you home, don't I?"

Tenten's eyes widened in surprise before her eyes lit up and she smiled happily. "Okay, Neji-_kun_! Walk me home!" And with that she hooked her arm around his and pulled him along, flaunting to passer-bys that she had a _boyfriend _and she didn't need no suitor, while he just followed her wordlessly, ignoring the shocked stares.

Hmm. Maybe _pretending _to date Neji wasn't that bad after all.

….


	6. Delirium

…

Day 5: Delirium.

…

Delirium. The only word for it.

Rocking backwards and forth, Tenten sat, huddled on the grass just outside the fire country's forest. The poor girl had obviously lost her grip on things.

The weeks events had just caught up to Tenten and she was, to put it bluntly, astonished with the predicament she had found herself in. Fool her father? Right under his accursed scrutinizing nose? With none other then the closest relation to a rock, Hyuuga Neji? It would be easier to convince Lee to get a haircut.

Last week, Tenten was a normal girl, well, as normal as a girl ninja in team Gai could get. This week, she could possibly be engaged to an ageing, lumpy man and was _practically _Neji's girlfriend. This _Sunday_, merely 3 days away, she, her family and her 'boyfriend' would be having a conversation over lunch!

She didn't want to jinx herself by saying things couldn't have gotten any worse.

Tenten giggled slightly, despite being so upset, thinking up scenes where things _did _get worse. She could be at the academy in her underwear. She could have missed a target in front of Tsunade-sama. She could be forced into one of Gai-sensei's green spandex contraptions of death…

"Tenten," a voice called out to her, bringing her back to reality. Looking up from her position, she saw Neji looking at her, an impassive expression on his face, despite last nights events. "You better pay attention. We are being briefed on our mission."

Tenten nodded slightly and stood up, in a daze. She supposed a few things had been going her way. Her cold had gone, for one. Her father had been out, probably discussing arrangements with her 'suitor', and without the stingy man home, Tenten had full access to the heater remote and turned the heat up to a level which enabled the house to sustain human life. Neji had also been nice to her. Really nice to her… almost… strangely nice to her?

"Tenten? Are you listening?" Gai-sensei's voice rang in her ears, as she looked up surprised to see 3 faces, two concerned and one blank, looking at her inquisitively. Though she had no idea what was going on, she felt the best thing would be to smile and nod. So she did just that, and was rewarded with Gai-sensei's smile, along with its customary sparkle. "Excellent!

"Now," Gai-sensei continued, enthusiastically, "A genin of our village was poisoned by a foreign competitor yesterday, as you all should know," Tenten discreetly glared at Gai-sensei, "and the Hokage-sama has found a cure! Fortunately, most of the ingredients are grown in the Village's herb garden, but there is one ingredient that is not. Surprisingly, it is a common fungus used in foreign delicacies, not rare or valuable at all, and it grows right here in the forest! Up till now, no healing properties have been found in this plant, so the need for it to be grown in the herb garden has never arisen! We have been assigned to this special task… the task… of finding… THE MYSTICAL, MISSING MUSHROOM!"

Tenten fought the urge to back away swiftly when tears sprang from Lee's eyes. "Gai-sensei," he sobbed, obviously happy and practically bursting with pride, "so… poignant… don't you think, Tenten?"

Tenten knitted her brows in uncertainty, and her jaw slightly dropped as two bowl-cut, thick-browed heads turned expectantly her way. Think, Tenten, Think, Tenten…

"Yes. Very… elaborative?" She could have sworn she heard a snort from the direction of one Hyuuga Neji, but she took Gai-sensei's and Lee's smiles of approvals to mean she had done well. She looked smugly over to Neji's direction, as if challenging him to do better. Neji, seemingly bored, just looked back into her eyes, his unwavering gaze unnerving her slightly. She suddenly remembered last night's events. What had she been thinking! Sharing a jacket with Neji! Neji's Jacket nonetheless! To her mortification, she felt a burning sensation rise into her cheeks at his constant attention. Oh, my Hokage… was she _blushing _because of _Neji_?

It had seemed Neji had noticed to, as a cocky smirk had appeared on his mouth. Tenten looked away, fuming. He had won that round… and that sudden flow of blood to her cheeks was just a defect from her passing cold combined with the antics of Gai and Lee… yes… Yes. She had a logical explanation for everything.

"So…Gai-sensei," she began, wanting to get back to business, "What are the characteristics of this type of fungus?" Tenten's heart literally sank when the grin dropped off Gai-sensei's face.

"…characteristics?"

There could be _thousands _of fungi species in this forest, damn it!

…

_Grey with dark speckles… Grey with dark speckles…_

Tenten pounced through the forest, keeping an eye out for moist areas that could possibly support small, grey mushrooms with dark speckles, and that smelt like Lee's shampoo product. She shook her head slowly, thinking about the crucial, yet undeniably fruitless search for the plant, with such a poor description. Even without jinxing things by stating that things could get worse, they already had.

A static sound reached Tenten's ears… Someone was transmitting a message through the radio.

"…_Tenten…_"Lee's voice called out, "_…any sighting…of the…objective?_"

The search had been going on for _at least _2 hours, and nothing, according to Gai-sensei's description, had been found. Tenten herself had found many specimens that were small and grey with dark speckles, but when she had met up with Gai-sensei and Lee, both had insisted the scent was far off from Lee's shampoo, which they had obviously learnt by heart (they kept sniffing Lee's hair).

Tenten released a long sigh. "No, Lee," she replied, sounding bored, "Not yet."

"…_Okay…but if you do find…something similar in description…remember…Aloe Vera with honeysuckle extract scent…"_

Their conversation ended when a large static sound ended the transmission. Tenten shook her head slightly at Lee's habits… even she, a girl, didn't remember or care what shampoo she used. Aloe Vera with honeysuckle extract… honestly that boy should get-

Tenten's nose twitched slightly. She smelt… Lee… She stopped and jumped to the ground, into a small stream and a secluded dark section of the forest, dense with trees and plant-life. Darkness and moisture… it seemed like a place fungi would grow…

Stepping forward a bit, into a small section of the area not covered with trees, Tenten sighted… a cluster of small, grey mushrooms with grew speckles and smelt like Lee. This was definitely it. Smiling incredulously, she had learnt Lee's scent by heart as well… now_she _needed to get out more…

Stepping forward and reaching her hand out, Tenten was surprised when she felt the slightest bit of pressure applied on her fingers, and when the air around her hand started shimmering… Shimmering? A look of confusion struck Tenten's face, as she pulled her hand back, the sparkles moving around…

All of a sudden, she saw hordes of spiders submerge from the trees. Her eyes widened as she realized… those sparkles were the reflection of light from what were obviously the spiders' webs! Stepping back into the stream, a look of disgust crossing her face as she took in account that there were spiders in their _hundreds_, Tenten examined the spiders… were they poisonous? She observed that they were quite small and black, some with a coppery-red patch on their backs…

'Red-backs,' Tenten thought grimly. They were venomous and, in these numbers, if she were bitten multiple times, it could be fatal, and she only had a limited supply of antidote for general spider bites carried around with her. Plus, the thick trees around the clearing meant that there was no way except this way to get through to the mushrooms. This could prove to be difficult…

"Tenten." She flipped around, taken off guard, by Neji's voice penetrating the sound of the small stream Tenten was standing in. Tenten felt a strange sensation to suddenly see him there; butterflies flew in her stomach. What complete and utter rubbish to be feeling nervous around Neji… she hadn't even sensed him! Tenten shifted, uncomfortable, from one leg to another, casting her gaze down in case she should blush like before.

"I found the mushrooms…" Tenten mumbled, shifting her gaze to a very interesting rock; Course and brown. She watched, interested, as it caused ripples to form in the water flowing around it… one ripple…two ripple… Does Neji like rip- three ripples…

"Tenten," Neji repeated, voice still bland, "You are acting strangely. And it is usually polite to look at someone when you address them-"

Suddenly, Tenten laughed loudly, disrupting the peace even more, not wanting to answer any awkward questions that she didn't even know existed. "Haha, Neji!" she exclaimed loudly, "Lets get this mission done… While we're still in the springtime of our youth! Um, Yosh!" Tenten raised her fist in a poor imitation of Lee. Under Neji's critical glare, she just wanted to either hide under her ripple rock or grab it and ditch it, with her amazing accuracy, at Neji's emotionless face. At the moment, the latter sounded oddly comforting…

Tenten dismissed the (inviting) thought and started towards the spiders and the web veil separating her from the prize; freedom from this wretched mission, this wretched forest, her wretched situation with Neji and Lee's wretched shampoo. She was surprised, and jumped slightly, when she felt Neji's arm on her shoulder. The butterflies increased, and then and there she swore an oath to throw a kunai and impale any butterfly that happened to cross her path.

"Yes?" Tenten squeaked out meekly. The atmosphere was suffocating.

Neji raised a thin eyebrow at Tenten's sudden Hinata-like ways before replying. "We don't have enough antidote if you get bitten several times. I have Byakugan; I will be able to see the spiders and in turn effectively avoid being bitten. It is best for me to do this task."

Tenten nodded quickly and submissively. _Anything _to get away from Neji's hand, which was still on her shoulder and was now starting to feel strangely warm… When Neji raised another eyebrow at Tenten's lack of argument, and failed to remove his hand, Tenten's will broke. Releasing a small 'meep', she jumped away from Neji,_slapping_ his hand in the process. If Neji was a more expressive person, he would have gasped.

Tenten felt much more comfortable now… Neji a good metre away… his hand_not _on her shoulder or making any contact with her at all…Tenten smiled, overenthusiastic, as she ushered him along. "Go on, Neji! We should finish the mission! Come on!"

Overcoming his shock and after one last quizzical look, Neji turned his back (to Tenten's _immense _relief) and started towards the spiders. A few feet before reaching the veil, he activated is Byakugan and began his way through. Moving swiftly around and moving his hands around his body, though Tenten couldn't see it, he was releasing chakra from his fingers to exterminate the spiders. Finally, he was through, with the majority of the spiders dead on the ground, and the rest quickly retreating.

After he disappeared into the clearing, Tenten took that time to breathe in and out and to compose herself. This was Neji! Her team mate! Her training partner! Her… boyfriend? NO! _Pretend _Boyfriend…_Pretend _boyfriend… Maybe she got bitten by one of the spiders and it was affecting her thinking… Yes. Yes, logical explanations, logical explanation…

Neji emerged to find Tenten hyperventilating, trying to calm herself down…In this case, he thought she deserved the honor of him raising _both_eyebrows at her. She had been acting strange all week, but today she was _really _not composed.

In reply to his face, Tenten nervously smiled, again overenthusiastic, and rubbed her arms nervously. "So… You got the mushrooms?" Neji replied, the same skeptical look on his face, by lifting up his new-found treasure, showing Tenten that he had, indeed, retrieved the mushrooms. Tenten smiled even wider, causing her to look positively insane and unbalanced. "Great!" She said, her voice breaking slightly. What was wrong with her? Why was she so nervous in Neji's presence all of a sudden? "Let's go then!"

Neji, rolling his eyes, although left unseen by Tenten for he had only eye whites, the pair started off, a jittery Tenten jumping far ahead as possible, as a befuddled, yet completely composed Hyuuga followed, the valuables tucked safely in his holster.

…

"Excellent! Neji, Tenten, you have done exceptionally well! In just 2 short hours, you have scaled the forest and found our objective! Now, present them to me!"

The excited face of Gai-sensei was hovering over Tenten, and she was glad to be back in the presence of people other then just Neji. It was just too strange and awkward. She looked away as Neji removed the mushrooms from his holster; on the way back, she had tried to sneak glances at him, but she kept blushing. Now, with Lee and Gai here, she wouldn't want to be caught blushing, now, would she?

Instead, she averted her gaze to a sulking Lee, who was disappointed that _he_hadn't found the mushrooms and received Gai-sensei's praise. Tenten shook her head slowly; if he had jus _asked _to swap positions with her then, she would have gladly agreed.

Her attention was pulled back towards Gai-sensei and _him _at _his_sharp exclamation of, "_What_!"

From the small disappointed, reassuring smile on Gai-sensei's face and the Mr. PMS-ed face on Neji's, Tenten had already figured out the answer. A vein popped in her forehead and she flipped out a kunai…All… that agony… and embarrassment… For _nothing!_

"I'm sorry, Neji. Tenten," Gai-sensei said sadly, "it seems like Lee didn't use his shampoo that smells like the mushrooms today. Instead of his Aloe Vera with honeysuckle extract, he used his Aloe Vera and _fruit_ extracts…"

Tenten fumed when she heard Lee's giggling behind her.

After all the awkwardness, Neji and Tenten shared a moment of understanding. Tenten took another kunai out; she would need two.

…

Tenten gently rested the flowers on the beside table between the hospital beds of the, unconscious, Gai-sensei and Lee. Though Gai-sensei could have taken them, he hadn't wanted to harm his 'precious students', and Lee's inability to use genjutsu and ninjustsu proved to be a disadvantage to him. Neji and Tenten, both feeling just a _tad _bit aggravated, had taken advantage of these two factors, and with satisfying results.

Tenten smiled happily and walked out of the room to meet Neji, who had just run to give Tsunade-sama the mushrooms, which _did _turn out to be the ones Neji and Tenten had found.

When Neji threw Tenten a questioning look, she replied, "They're fine. They're just sleeping it off. You didn't have to hit them so hard, you know."

"They deserved it," Neji replied. Holding his arm out as an invitation, Tenten happily looped her arm through his. It was now automatic that he would walk her home. Tenten was quite happy about that.

As they walked towards Tenten's house, Tenten felt no awkwardness as she had before. She felt completely at ease and in place. Heck, everything felt almost normal! Neji and herself opposing Lee and Gai, the dramatics and strange happenings… it all seemed almost normal, even though it wasn't, with the whole suitor and arranged marriage thing. But for now, she would just settle with walking home with Neji, after a good day's work out.

And the awkwardness? Tenten, logically, blamed it on delirium.

…

* * *

**And there you have it. ^_^**

**Like I said, I'm really excited to be continuing this story. I already have an idea of where I want this to go, so now I just have to write it. First update should be within a week.**

**Ja ne!**


	7. A Different Kind of Training

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed.**

A Different Kind of Training

"Neji," Tenten announced from her spot on Neji's bed, "We need to work on your boyfriend skills."

Neji, who was sitting on the floor meditating, answered by simply opening his eyes and raising an eyebrow which said, _umm, hell to the no. _If eyebrows could talk, that is. _'Neji's eyebrow would probably talk more than him,'_ Tenten mused. _'Or maybe it's also cold and stoic…'_

A few minutes went by and Tenten suddenly realized she was staring at Neji's eyebrow, which had clambered even higher onto his face.

"Oh!" Tenten squeaked. "Umm, hi. Neji. Umm. Did you need anything?"

And now the other eyebrow was rising higher… And-

"Would you like to tell me why you suddenly declared that we need to work on my 'boyfriend skills'?"

- And he just talked! Someone go inform the newspapers!

"Well," Tenten began, "Honestly, you're not a very good boyfriend."

_Again with the glares!_

"I mean, umm, I'm sure you would make a wonderful boyfriend! Umm, if you, you know, tried to- er, that is, umm, see…" Oh, nonono, the awkward feeling was back! Awkward feelings were awkward! "Umm… Just… Just think of it as training! Yeah!" Training is a huge hit with hot, cold guys who are obsessed with becoming stronger!

"And when will I ever need this training?"

Tenten thought fast. "Well, say, on, er, missions… And stuff, when you're… posing as, say, someone's boyfriend or something, so that she doesn't have to marry some old, oily, ugly suitor and doesn't have to leave which means she can train with you since the other people on your team are weird youth- obsessed freaks with shiny hair and green spandex suits-"

Neji sighed. "… Alright. But make it fast."

Tenten sighed with relief. "Good. Thanks, Neji." She grinned. "Well, let's get started!"

…

"No, Neji. You're too stiff. This stuff should look natural."

Neji's arm was currently around Tenten's waist and, just like with the hand holding, it did not feel comfortable at all. Tenten's cheek was smushed against Neji's shoulder and his arm was waay too tight. On top of that, he was grimacing. He looked like he'd rather be cleaning toilets.

"It looks perfectly fine," He said through gritted teeth.

"No, it doesn't," Tenten insisted. "You look like you'd rather be cleaning toilets."

Tenten sighed. So far they'd worked on hand holding and the like, casual touches. Neji had managed to bomb each section spectacularly, even going so far as to slap her hand away- on reflex, she hoped- when she'd gone to brush his hair away from his face. He adamantly refused to 'look at at her tenderly with love' and had instead used his Nejiton: Death Glare no Jutsu! on her until she'd coughed and suggested they move on.

"Look, Neji," She began. "You're going to be meeting my parents soon so..." He turned to look at her and she suddenly became aware of how close they were. His breath was fanning out across her face and his long bangs were brushing her cheeks.

Tenten suddenly felt very awkward.

"Er- well, umm, I guess that's all for today!" She laughed loudly and shoved Neji away, feeling her face turn a lovely shade of scarlet. "I- I'll see you tomorrow! Umm, bye!"

Tenten ran.

Neji smirked.

…

**I understand this is really short, so let me explain. This was originally part of Day Six, but I decided to take it out, so this is just a filler chapter of sorts. The next chapter will be out soon. Don't worry, it's about halfway done.**


	8. Lunch With a Flirty Waitress

**Disclaimer: Insert witty dislaimer that I'm too lazy to make up.**

**I tried to write in the same style, but unfortunately, I failed... miserably. Hopefully I didn't butcher the story too much.**

**Well, enjoy!**

* * *

…

Day Six: Lunch With a Flirty Waitress

…

'_Damn it!' _Tenten thought as she ran towards the training grounds. _'Second day in a week! Neji's gonna kill me!'_

She ran past stores and people, nearly crashed into about four bemused citizens, and managed to trip herself. Over some random speck of dust (read as: nothing). How graceful.

Dusting herself off, she cursed again and took off. Neji was going to kill her! He wouldn't care that she couldn't sleep the night before (_'Because you were thinking about Neji,'_, that voice reminded her- _'shut up, brain,' _she snapped back), or that she was tired and hungry. He would just- _Byakugan!_- and then the next day, the newspapers would print a story about poor Tenten who had mysteriously died. Maybe she should have an excuse ready… The one about fate would do.

When she finally reached the training grounds, Neji was already leaning against a tree, raising an eyebrow at her panting form. Tenten was relieved to see that he didn't look murderous, just slightly irritated.

"Hi- Neji," She gasped. Holding up a finger, she fanned herself with her other hand and collapsed against a tree.

"…"

'_Well, good morning to you too,'_ Tenten thought sarcastically. She coughed and said, "Well, let's get started."

Neji immediately pushed off the tree and walked over to the center of their training grounds. Falling into the Jyuuken stance, he turned towards Tenten and raised an eyebrow at her. Tenten took that as a 'coming or not?' (because she was so ninja she could understand Neji-ish, which not many people could) and hurriedly went to face Neji, pulling her scrolls out of her pocket.

"Ready?"

Neji closed his eyes and activated his Byakugan.

Tenten took that as a 'yes, get on with it already' (again, because she knew Neji-ish) and then whipped her scrolls open. She bit her thumb, drew the blood across a scroll, and jumped into the air. She sent volley after volley of weapons at Neji, who stood in the clearing. He managed to dodge the first wave and half of the second, but as she started sending out bigger weapons, he was forced to use his Kaiten.

When she had finished her first assault, she dropped to the ground and began fighting with taijutsu. She aimed a punch at his stomach, only to have him block it. And it was a good punch too, damn it! After a few more exchanges, she jumped back, panting, and assessed her options.

Neji watched her.

Having decided on a course of action, she ran forward again only to jump at the last second, leaving him momentarily confused. (Haha, yes! Neji was confused!) Landing on the ground behind him, she pulled out two scrolls and set them on the gound, forming hand seals. Immediately, two smoke dragons rose from the gound and rose, encircling each other.

'_Soushouryu!_'

…

"Ow, ow, ow," Tenten groaned, hopping around and clutching her foot. "Ow- Neji!" She squeaked in surprise as he picked her up. "What-"

"Be quiet."

Tenten pouted. "But you- put me down right now!" What did he think he was doing? She was a big girl! She could take care of herself!

Neji blinked at her. "No." What did he just say?

"You- you- damn it!"

Neji smirked and Tenten cursed him. _'Stupid Neji! This is all your fault!'_

"No, its not. You're the one who decided it was okay not to land properly and twisted your ankle. I didn't do anything."

'… _Did I say that out loud?'_

"Yes. Yes you did."

'_Damn it!'_

Neji sighed and laid Tenten down on a patch of grass, kneeling down beside her. "Let me look at your ankle."

Tenten looked at him suspiciously. What was he going to do to her? She hoped he wasn't upset about the senbon that had managed to pierce him when he'd thought he had deflected all her weapons. She didn't really feel like getting her leg broken just because he was feeling slightly vengeful.

"I'm not going to break your leg or anything," He said tiredly. "I'm just going to take a look at it."

'… _Is he psychic?'_

"… Fine."

Neji nodded. Tenten watched him as he activated his Byakugan, scanning her ankle quickly. He poked a few points, and immediately Tenten's ankle was fixed. She stretched her leg out, testing it, and then grinned. "Thanks, Neji!"

"… Hn."

"You wanna get some food?" Tenten felt hungry- she'd skipped breakfast again this morning.

"No."

Tenten poked him. "Come on, Neji, don't be like Sasuke." Neji bristled at being compared to the last Uchiha and then nodded- jerking his head up and then marching out to the restraunts. Tenten followed, stifling a giggle.

…

"So, Neji… Is there anything in particular you want to eat?"

"No."

"Anywhere you wanna go?"

"No."

"… Anything you wanna do?"

"No."

Tenten frowned. "Nothing at all?" Well, she had dragged him along, but the least he could do was cooperate. Stupid jerk. She was trying to be nice, damn it! He should at least say something!

"Okay then," Tenten said. "Let's go… There." She pointed at the little dange shop, grabbed Neji's hand, and dragged him over to a table. She grabbed a menu. "Hmm… What should I get?"

As Tenten studied the menu, Neji sat and studied her. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. Neji wondered if-

"Neji, what are you getting?"

Tenten looked up to find Neji watching her intently and she blushed. _'Wait, no! Why am I blushing? It's just Neji!'_ She thought. Tenten ducked her head down, embarassed. Kami, she was blushing because of Neji! _Again!_ And now Neji was smirking at her, _again_, and she seriously wanted to pull his hair out- speaking of hair, his was looking really, really soft… her eyes traced a few strands that framed his face and then-

Wait, what was she doing looking at his hair?

"Hello, may I get something for you to drink?"

Tenten, still blushing, just stared at the waitress. Where did she come from? _'Oh, crap, I still haven't decided what to get yet!' _Scanning her eyes swiftly down the menu, she barely heard Neji say, "Two green teas."

And then the waitress giggled.

Wait, what? Tenten's head jerked up and she looked at the waitress incredulously. There was no way… Was she… _Hitting on Neji?_

Yes, she was. There was no doubt about that. The waitiress- whom Tenten decided to call 'Miss Skank', despite the fact that her nametag said she was 'Yuki', was definitely hitting on Neji. She had on a flirtatious smile, and was batting her eyes at him flirtatiously while flipping her hair flirtatiously. Tenten's eyes narrowed. What did that girl think she was doing? Was it not obvious that they were on a date? Well, technically, Tenten had dragged Neji on a date, but it was still a date!

'_That stupid girl!' _A voice in Tenten's head roared. _'Hitting on my Neji! He's mine, bitch! Back off!'_

Whoa, where did that come from? 'He's mine?' Neji was just her pretend boyfriend- they weren't actually going out. Obviously, she was just… being protective of Neji, because… she was his teammate, and therefore it was her responsibility to make sure he didn't end up dating stupid girls like Miss Skank… yes, that was it. Stick to the logical explanations, Tenten.

Neji, Tenten noticed, was completely oblivious to the waitresses' pathetic atempts at flirting, which was rather satisfying. _'Take that, Miss Skank!' _

"Why are you still here?" Neji sounded bored and slightly annoyed. The waitress looked taken aback. Tenten mentally cheered for Neji.

"Oh, honey, you're hilarious," Miss Skank- yes, the name fit her better thank Yuki- purred. She ran a hand through her hair (that wasn't long or luscious or silky or perfect at all, thankyouverymuch) and giggled again.

Neji just raised an eyebrow. "How long are you planning to stand there?" He turned to Tenten. "Couldn't you have chosen a better place?"

Miss Skank turned to Tenten and glared before facing back to Neji and putting on a smile. "So what can I do you for?" She finished the question off with a round of eyelash-batting and hair flipping. Tenten could hear the double meaning and was not happy with it.

"What do you want, Tenten?" Neji asked. The waitress stayed facing Neji, but angled her head a little to glare at Tenten some more.

"Umm… I'll have, uh, the, uh… I'll have a plate of dango," Tenten said, randomly picking an item off the menu. Miss Skank, still glaring, scribbled it down on her notepad before turning back around to Neji, coy smile in place. "And you, darling?"

"Same as her." Neji was looking at Tenten. Miss Skank cleared her throat, trying to get Neji's attention. He didn't look at her. "Is there anything _else _I can get you? Anything at all?" She asked, and Tenten bristled.

"No, that will be all. Please leave now." And the waitress, after attempting one more time to get Neji to look at her, left, dissatisfied.

Throughout their meal, Miss Skank flirted with Neji. She pulled her shirt down, spoke in a low, seductive voice and, once (Tenten had to resist the urge to slug her in her stupid, perfectly made-up face), whispered in his ear. He'd quickly brushed her off, though, and only looked at her twice (both times to give her disgusted glares, which unfortunately didn't affect her at all), so Tenten managed to restrain herself.

When they'd finished, Miss Skank brought the bill. This time, though, Tenten didn't need to remind Neji that this was their second date and therefore he needed to pay, because he was already reaching for his money. As he handed it to the stupid waitress, she 'accidentally' ended up grabbing his hand, as well as the money.

Tenten was very, very annoyed. Who did this stupid girl think she was? She opened her mouth to say something, but Neji beat her to it.

"Please let go of my hand right now." He now sounded very, very annoyed. Standing up, he motioned for Tenten to follow. "Come, Tenten. Let's go."

Tenten smirked at Miss Skank as they passed. Miss Skank responed by glaring some more.

"Well, that was… annoying," Tenten remarked as they left the shop. Neji just looked at her, an eyebrow twitching. And then he nodded stiffly, jaw clenched. Tenten giggled.

"But it was kinda funny. She looked so shocked. I bet that was the first time she got rejected." Tenten was now stifling laughter.

"Not the first time, if that's how she behaves around other people." Neji's annoyed look softened slightly as he watched Tenten, who was laughing outright. Snorting, Tenten nodded. "They probably think she's pretty annoying, too."

They began walking towards Tenten's house. Tenten's eye caught Neji's hand, and she remembered the last time they'd held hands- it had not gone well. But, maybe now…

Taking a deep breath, Tenten reached out and caught Neji's hand. He stopped walking and looked at her. She laughed nervously. "Umm, well, you know, couples hold hands, so…" She waited for his reaction, holding her breath.

To her surprise, she could see the tiniest of blushes on Neji's cheeks. It was probably just her imagination- but that other day, when she'd taken his hand, he'd blushed a little bit, too. Maybe it was just a coincidence? Yeah, that was probably it. Maybe he had a cold? Should she ask him if he was okay? Before she could open her mouth, Neji just shrugged and kept walking.

This time, the hand-holding was different. It was still slightly awkward, but there was less tension in the air. Neji seemed to be at ease, and Tenten felt like laughing.

"Tenten-san! Neji-niisan!"

Neji and Tenten turned around. Neji murmured a respectful 'Hinata-sama' while Tenten grinned. "Hinata! Hi!" Looking past Hinata, Tenten realized Sakura and Ino were behind her. "Sakura! Ino!"

"Tenten-san," Sakura greeted. "Where are you guys heading?"

"Oh, Neji-_kun_'s just walking me home," Tenten laughed. Ino looked shocked. Sakura and Hinata seemed to be handling it a little better. Hinata smiled, and Sakura sighed dreamily.

"He must be such a gentleman," Sakura said quietly to Tenten. "He probably pulls chairs out and opens doors for you. You're so lucky, Tenten!"

"You two are so cute together!" Ino squealed, getting over her surprise. "You're just the right height for each other and everything! That is so cute! I bet Sakura's right, he's probably so proper, isn't he? I bet he kisses you on the forehead and stuff, doesn't he?" She sighed. "I wish Shikamaru was like that! I swear, he's so _troublesome!_"

Tenten giggled. "Yeah, he's wonderful."

"W- Well, we better get going then," Hinata said softly. "G- Goodbye, Tenten-san, Neji-niisan."

…

After a few more minutes, they reached Tenten's house. Tenten rang the doorbell- Oh, no.

"Damn it!" She cursed. How could she have not remembered?

"What?" Neji asked.

"My parents are up!" Tenten could hear her mother coming to get the door. "They don't know I have a boyfriend yet-"

"Hello, Tenten- oh, who's this?"

'_My life is over!' _Tenten thought frantically. _'There's no way Neji's gonna-'_

"It's nice to meet you," Neji said smoothly. "I'm Hyuuga Neji, Tenten's boyfriend."

'_Well that was unexpected.'_

Tenten's mother squealed. "Oh, goodness, Tenten! You never told us you found a boyfriend! This is wonderful! Oh, come in, come in. Neji-kun, you're Tenten's teammate, right? Oh, it's about time you two got together!"

Tenten was mortified. Her mother was acting… more… hyper, than usual, and Neji was looking rather bemused… "Umm, it's kinda late, so… Neji needs to go home now… You can meet him tomorrow, okay?" She said quickly.

"Oh!" Tenten's mother looked disappointed, but then brightened up. "Alright then! Tomorrow. Bye, Neji-kun!"

No one moved. Tenten was frozen and blushing, Neji was… weirded out, though he would never admit it, and Tenten's mother was beaming.

"Oh… Sorry! You kiss, I won't look." Her mother turned around and rushed upstairs, yelling to her husband that Tenten had found a boyfriend, leaving Tenten flushing even more.

"Umm… S- Sorry about that," Tenten choked out. "She- er… She didn't really want me to get married off, either and… Yeah…" Realizing she was still holding Neji's hand, she quickly let go. "Haha… Umm… Bye."

But Neji was still standing there. Why wasn't he leaving? And… Why was he staring at her? Did she have something on her face? Tenten brought a hand up to her cheek to brush whatever it was off when Neji leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

Tenten turned a bright red. Neji smirked. "Ah! Neji- er- umm, I- wow, umm-"

"I'll be here at eleven tomorrow," he said, and then he was one, leaving a flushing Tenten staring after him.

* * *

**Yes, I know I'm late. I'm sorry! I had a ton of school stuff and piano and flute stuff and just... gah. Please don't shoot me. *Hides***

**I have to admit: I have some weird obsession with Neji's hair. But, seriously, can you blame me? It's just so long... and perfect... and pretty... and I WANT IT SO BAD ITS NOT FAIR WHY DOES HE GET THE PRETTY HAIR? D':**

**(Because he's Hyuuga Neji.)**

**Psh.**


End file.
